In a divisive time, I celebrate resilient human goodness

No doubt you've heard of the idea of "the common good," which, as the Stanford University site to which I just linked you says, "refers to those facilities — whether material, cultural or institutional — that the members of a community provide to all members in order to fulfill a relational obligation they all have to care for certain interests that they have in common."

One of those common interests has to do with health. Which is why we have physicians, nurses, mental health counselors, a pharmaceutical industry and so much more, including health insurance. The core idea, of course, is that when our personal health breaks down in some way we often need the help of others to repair matters.

There are several ways people in the health field can operate: They can promise to do no harm and, beyond that, to devote themselves to treating others in the way they would want to be treated if they were the ones in need. Or they can be in it for the money or merely to survive financially, giving little or no thought to the common humanity they share with those they allegedly serve.

I want to assure you that there still are people in this serving-others health field who consistently hold to the first model of serving others while treating them with respect and care. I recently experienced that very thing and, at a time when social media is aflame with nasty voices dehumanizing others, I was reassured that we can at the very least be civil to people with whom we may disagree.

What brought me into contact with such servant hearts was a medical issue I had that affected my internal plumbing. Without variance, every person connected to St. Luke's Hospital of Kansas City who was part of the solution to my problem (and, yes, there was a solution) seemed to me to be intensely focused not simply on getting a paycheck but, rather, on caring for me as a fellow human being in need.

In theological language, they were acting out the concept that each person is of inestimable value and deserves to be treated as such. In Judaism and Christianity, this idea goes back to the first book in the Bible, where each person is declared to be created in the image of God.

This blog post is not meant to be a commercial for St. Luke's. No doubt there are other excellent health care facilities that also employ people who embody this core value. And no doubt sometimes people have had experiences either at St. Luke's or at other facilities that did not match my own recent gracious care.

But every person who cared for me -- Mary, Luke, Sarah, Sara, Sarah, Satin, Grio, Brooke, Rebecca and others -- in my pre-operation preparation, the surgery itself and the post-op time -- seemed at every moment to treat me as someone precious to them.

We are in a distressing and nasty political season full of invective, lies, damned lies and statistics. The instinct of some of our so-called leaders seems to be to reduce others to inhuman tools of Satan. Some days it's not just disappointing, it's shocking and appalling. And, in that atmosphere, we may begin to assume that this ferociousness affects everyone, especially if we pay attention to social media.

It does not. There still are people who know how to value others, even if they disagree with those others. There still are people who seem to wake up every day wanting to give themselves in service to others. Not all such people are in the medical field, but that's where I most recently experienced them.

May their numbers increase. And when you, too, experience the kind of loving care that I did, may you affirm the caregivers -- in the moment, if possible.

One reason to be so grateful for such care is that this kind of caring-for-others work can deeply affect the caregiver's own physical and mental health. As the great essayist Jill Lepore writes in her book The Deadline, "Taking care of vulnerable people and witnessing their anguish exacts an enormous toll and produces its own suffering. Naming that pain was meant to be a step toward alleviating it. But it hasn't worked out that way because the conditions of doing care work -- the emotional drain, the hours, the thanklessness -- have not gotten better."

Oh, and by the way: The surgery I had is quite common among men who have passed middle age (whatever that is). And that tempts me to think that the human body was God's science fair project -- on which he got a D.

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WHAT'S BEHIND ANTI-LGBTQ+ POLL RESULTS?

A new poll related to Pride Month shows Americans are deeply divided about the influence of LGBTQ+ people on the rest of society, this Los Angeles Times story says. "Three out of four Democrats who said LGBTQ+ people have had an impact on the U.S. see that as positive, according to" the nationwide poll. But "nearly the same share of Republicans, 77%, said the influence of LGBTQ+ people has been somewhat or very negative." I don't put a lot of faith in polls these days for many reasons, but if these figures are close to accurate, my guess is that what's influencing those opinions most is the long-taught but inaccurate idea that the Bible condemns homosexual orientation. I describe that sordid history in this essay. How people read scripture continues to shape the world even as commitment to religion declines. And when people read it literally, as opposed to seriously, it leads to trouble.