True Dutch Courage!

One morning mid last year this white man was simply stunned when news came through over the airwaves of a shooting in the Melbourne CBD. "This is Melbourne, not New York!" was my first thought (that reaction was actually misinformed as New York City has probably an equal or even less amount of street crime in their CBD than Melbourne does due to their successful zero tolerance crime policy but that's another discussion...). News continued to filter through that a Melbourne lawyer was dead and a woman and a backpacker seriously injured. It was revealed that the lawyer and the Dutch tourist came to the aid of a woman being assaulted by another male. The protagonist then produced a gun and the three were summarily shot. In time the offender was eventually arrested, charged, found guilty in court and sentenced to life in prison. And still an innocent man's family grieve their loss of a husband and father. Another woman still struggles to piece together her life after the trauma she was subjected to. And then there is the Dutch backpacker, Paul De Waard...

Paul De Waard, a young tourist on the other side of the world from his home made a decision one day to do the right thing. It can't have been an easy decision, after all he was here on a holiday in a country not his own and really, he didn't have to get involved in what transpired...but he chose to involve himself. And he has paid a heavy price for that act of heroism. This white man has travelled abroad and cannot imagine the dilemma of being faced with a similar situation in another country, let alone my own. Today Paul De Waard has been honoured with a bravery commendation and medal. It is both an appropriate and obligatory gesture no doubt, but even still it seems inadequate compared with the real legacy I believe this brave Dutchman has left in our lives here in Melbourne. For me, his legacy is this - a personal challenge. That come any time in my day-to-day life, if I was to be confronted with a scene alike what he was faced with, that I, too would remember his rightful actions and follow his example by not being content to be a spectator to another person's suffering but be willing and able to interject myself, even at personal cost if necessary. Moreover, I would expect it not only of myself but also, later in life when they are older, I would expect it of my sons. Why are my expectations worth the time of day? They aren't in themselves, but I also believe them also to be Christ's expectations and so at least for me that means something.

I feel personally challenged by this and consider the heroism of Paul De Waard a clarion call into the collective consciousness of Melburnians. How often to we keep walking past situations when we truly know deep inside that we should have stopped to help? How often do we cower to our innermost fears and retreat into self-preservation when confronted with the suffering of others? Let me tell you, this white man has heard the story of the Good Samaritan many, many times over. Yet honestly, it took a real life good samaritan on my own streets to fully reveal the deep truth Jesus taught one day in responding to a simple question "who is my neighbour?" I guess that Dutch guy knows the story of the good samaritan - whether he knows it or not, more importantly he lived it. May I also have the same courage to make that truth the testimony of my life as well.