[The participants are Michael Thorneloe, Roger Weinheimer, and Robert McKinnon.]

McKinnon: People generally want to go to the aid of somebody in trouble, somebody who's being robbed or harmed, in spite of one or two well–publicized incidents to the contrary. Often there is an element of danger and yet a bystander or two will act.

Weinheimer: I recently read of a study made in a large subway system that brought out that most bystanders who see others in trouble will reach out to help.

McKinnon: I suppose many people act out of a sense of identification with the victim. They feel they might be in his situation sometime and hope that somebody would help them.

Thorneloe: I think it goes deeper, though, than a mere concern for the underdog or a sense of fair play. Willingness to help may well be sparked by a feeling of brotherhood, an unselfish caring for what is happening to another human being.

When this caring is motivated by love for all concerned, the action taken is divinely supported. There is a law of God behind it, as the Psalmist indicated when he said (Ps. 46:1), "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

McKinnon: It's one thing to want to help someone in trouble, but quite another actually to rescue someone without having to be rescued yourself.

Thorneloe: Certainly unthinking involvement can do more harm than good. But when our caring and motivation are divinely impelled, they are divinely supported.

Weinheimer: I know from personal experience that a response to the divine includes within it what we need to do and say, as well as when.

McKinnon: What do you mean by a "response to the divine"?

Weinheimer: Responding to the loving control that infinite Love, God, holds over all His creation. This gives us a basis both for intelligent caring and the ability needed to help quickly and effectively.

Thorneloe: In his teachings Christ Jesus called for an active expression of this love which has its source in God. He said (Matt. 22:39), "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." These words throw great light on that age–old question posed in Genesis (4:9): "Am I my brother's keeper?" And Jesus also said (John 13:35), "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." In the measure that we're really willing to surrender fears, doubts, and worries, and to respond to divine Love's direction, we are able to provide meaningful help in a time of trouble.

McKinnon: Roger, you said you knew from experience that this "response to the divine" brings what's needed. How have you experienced this?

Weinheimer: One night about a year ago, as I was leaving my office for home and getting into my car, I heard a woman screaming. A man was beating her with the wooden handle of an umbrella. Although she was trying to ward off the blows, he was doing a very thorough job. I hesitated momentarily and then found myself running up the street, yelling at the man to stop beating her. He stopped, but he turned to me. As he started toward me, he pulled a switchblade knife out of his pocket. We came face to face, and we began a very heated conversation. He asked me what right I had to interfere, saying that I didn't even know him. I said to him that he was a man and I was a man and we both knew that it was wrong to beat a woman.

Thorneloe: You didn't respond to him violently.

Weinheimer: No, it did not even occur to me to respond that way, although he challenged me to defent the woman. I said that I was. We continued talking until suddenly he relaxed. He said, "Forgive me. I was very upset." With that he turned around and walked away.

The whole experience moved me deeply. I pondered what really had been involved—what had protected me, the woman, and even the man himself from any further violence. To me, the answer was in my motive, in my feeling of love for all concerned.

McKinnon: What I find significant is that your motive protected everybody.

Weinheimer: This was an individual situation, of course. Specific action appropriate for one incident might not be appropriate for another.

McKinnon: There are so many things a person might do when he sees somebody in trouble. What about indecision?

Thorneloe: One answer is to be willing to act in accordance with what you feel divinely impelled to do. Let's explore more of what God as infinite Love and as divine Mind creates and maintains. There is, for example, on fear, no selfishness, no lack of love, in any part of divine Love's creation. All that divine Love maintains is loved and cared for. There is no indecision, no confusion, no procrastination, in the control of the one divine Mind, God.

Man's function as the spiritual likeness of God is to respond to and express God's nature. Intelligence, as well as love, is a God–like quality that man actually possesses impartially and without limit. In our true nature as the man of God's creating, we have right now all the courage, intelligence, love, and wisdom that's required to make distinctive, constructive contributions to people in need of help.

McKinnon: What about people who feel that it's very foolhardy to step into a dangerous situation? Do you both feel that they can expect to have the same kind of protection that Roger experienced?

Thorneloe: We never have to fear the results of intelligent caring, because they bring both respect and protection. The law of Love includes all mankind. When we're motivated by love for all concerned, by the desire to express God, infinite Mind, divine Love, the right way will open up.

What this deeper motivation can mean to us in helping someone in trouble is touched upon by Mary Baker Eddy in the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. She writes (p. 205), "When we realize that there is one Mind, the divine law of loving our neighbor as ourselves is unfolded; whereas a belief in many ruling minds hinders man's normal drift towards the one Mind, one God, and leads human thought into opposite channels where selfishness reigns." And elsewhere she says (Pulpit and Press, p. 3), "Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love."

Weinheimer: Whatever steps we take are individual. But we can expect all parties to be helped—not just the rescued and the rescuer but the one apparently causing the trouble, if a third party is involved.

Thorneloe: Yes. As our motive is based on love for our fellow–men, that motive ties us in directly with the power and presence of God. This impels us and enables us to act in the right way at the right time, so that all our steps are under the protection of divine Love.