I recently went out for a morning run. As I was starting to jog in my densely populated city neighborhood, I looked across the narrow street and saw a man, probably in his 40s or 50s, looking rather disheveled and very shabbily dressed. I wondered for a moment what he was doing, and being human—couldn’t help but cast a second of disapproval as to his appearance and demeanor. So judgmental but I’m human! I ran for about a half hour and when I was returning, passing that same street again on my way home, I took a bit of a stumble. Nothing serious thankfully, but I tripped over the paving and twisted my ankle. I ended up on my front as I fell on the floor. As I was getting back up on my feet a few seconds later, some random people who live nearby, strolled right past me, and clearly saw what happened. Not a word.

Then as I was starting to walk back, I heard a voice on the other side of the street: “Hey buddy, are you okay? You need any help?”

I looked up and saw that same man I had passed earlier, who I now realized must have been involved in some type of house construction, walk over to me. I said I was fine, thanked him for asking, and walked home.

There’s a life lesson in that somewhere, and I’m glad it happened. Maybe a biblical type lesson. The people who lived near me—my neighbors in the geographic sense in my hoity toity neighborhood—walked right on by after I fell. It was the concerned good Samaritan stranger, disheveled and shabbily dressed as he may have been, who tried to help me.

Suneel Dhand is a physician, writer, and YouTuber. He is Founder at MedStoic Lifestyle Medicine and DocsDox . Follow him on YouTube and Facebook.