“Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.”
—Saadi Shirazi
Image generated with the assistance of Microsoft Copilot
These words by the Persian poet Saadi have echoed across centuries and cultures for a reason. They offer a clear and enduring truth: to be human is to be bound to others. Not by preference, but by nature. We belong to one another.
In this shrinking world, where a crisis in one country can ripple instantly across continents, his image of humanity as one body is not poetic exaggeration. It’s reality. What one person suffers, the rest of us should feel. Not out of sentimentality, but out of shared essence.
We often speak of the world as a global village. But Saadi reminds us it’s not just a village of trade, travel, and technology; it’s a village of souls. And within it are people who deserve our love and compassion, not because they’re familiar, but because they’re human.
This kinship crosses all lines. The child in Gaza, the grandmother in Glasgow, the teacher in Tehran, we are connected. When one part of the body is wounded, the rest cannot be well. Paul expressed the same truth in his letter to the Corinthians: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.”
This is the essence of moral life: feeling for others as for us. It’s not about grand gestures. It’s about refusing to grow indifferent. About seeing others not as strangers, but neighbours. Not as burdens, but brothers and sisters.
To be human is to remember we are not islands. We are a village.
And in that village, love is not optional.
It is the pulse of a living soul.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.”
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
So too, when a Levite came to that spot and saw him, he passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan on a journey came upon him, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Take care of him,’ he said, ‘and on my return I will repay you for any additional expense.’
Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
“The one who showed him mercy,” replied the expert in the law.
Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10: BSB