It is interesting that a recent letter to the editor thanked former Mayor Judy Markowitz for being a Good Samaritan. During a steady rain, Judy had encountered the couple needing to get to the airport. Even though they were strangers to her, she offered them a ride.

The appreciative couple used the Good Samaritan from a familiar parable of Jesus to express their thanks for Judy's act of kindness. Judy is Jewish. The writers apparently are Christian. The Samaritan in the parable was part of an offshoot group from Judaism that was looked down on by Jews of that time. So we see acted out in our own day the exact point Jesus was making, that compassion transcends religious and cultural lines.

True neighbors care for and help one another no matter what their religious, racial or cultural differences may be. Thanks to Judy and to the couple who wrote for demonstrating that important truth. May we go and do likewise!

Joe Culpepper, Bloomington

The writer is pastor, Centennial Christian Church.