Emily the Good Samaritan

At school the other day, during break, Emily and her friend came across a little girl from the reception class who had fallen over and scraped her knee. Having calmed her down, they took her to the staff room so that the teacher in charge of first aid could clean her up.

Full of the warm glow of satisfaction that comes from Doing Good, Emily has now vowed that every day she will find someone to help. Now I don’t want to discourage this impulse to help others, but there are a couple of things that worry me. First is the “every day” part of her promise. Knowing Emily, she will be unable to sleep at night if twenty-four hours elapse without her having Made A Difference To Someone’s Life. Second, I wonder what she means by “find someone”. I have visions of Emily and her gang of do-gooders roaming the playground and forcing the tinies to submit to their ministrations…

Emily: Oi, you, come here. Let me help you.

Tiny: But I don’t need any help.

Emily Yes you do, you fell over. You hurt your head!

Tiny: No I didn’t. And my head’s fine.

Emily: Don’t argue. I’m going to help you. Boys, hold her down. [Emily proceeds to wind a bandage around her struggling victim’s head.]

You can see where this urge to help others could lead, I think. Anyway, I tried to persuade her that if she’s looking for people to help she could start with me and Nevi, and tidy her room. You can imagine what sort of eye-rolling reaction that comment provoked...