How do we understand those who are not like us? by Lorna Clark

I am currently writing a book of adult stories based on the readings of the Church of England for each Sunday of the year. It’s complicated.

Some of the stories come readily and they are the ones I did first, so now I’m working through the more difficult ones. This week I’ve been studying the Samaritan woman at the well and I couldn’t see how to write a story about her and Jesus – I still can’t, but that woman has been living in my brain all week.

I was trying to see the situation through Jesus’ eyes and it wasn’t working, because Jesus understood the woman, he knew everything about her and exactly how she was feeling. I didn’t. How could I know what it was like to have been married five times and now be living with a man who wasn’t my spouse? 

Then I realised that she had no friends. Anyone she had a relationship with had left her or rejected her, she was ostracised by the local women, and she had to depend on a man who could walk out on her at any time. She was rejected and lonely, and I understand how that feels. It’s a miserable and fearful feeling.

Changing perspective and looking at life through her eyes, gave me insight into her background and her present state – a kicking-off point.

At the same time, I was waiting for my nephew to be sentenced for drug dealing and praying that he would get a custodial sentence with rehab. He was dealing to feed his habit which  had already brought on paranoid schizophrenia. 

I don’t understand his addiction, but I know his background. Brought up in a deprived area, with  high unemployment, he had no qualifications but loved tinkering with cars. He tried to get a job, working without pay washing cars and helping mechanics. However, there wasn’t any paid positions and he joined the unemployed, using drugs as an escape route. Universal credit and stealing didn’t bring in enough for his addiction, so he turned to dealing.

There was nothing I could do. I still love him and want the best for him. I don’t want him bringing distress to other families by selling drugs, He was expecting a long custodial sentence, but was given only a twenty-four month suspended sentence. Tonight he will be shooting up with his ‘friends’ and I can’t do anything about it.

There is so much I don’t understand, I can’t comprehend, but at least I feel closer to the Samaritan woman.

Lorna lives in Norfolk and loves the countryside. She is a licensed Lay Minister in her local church. She has published two cosy crime books and is working on a book of stories relating to each Sunday’s lectionary readings.