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Good morning. My friend works in a large organisation. They have an area in their staff room where food and drink is available. My friend noticed a more junior colleague was tidying up this area one afternoon, although it wasn’t really his job to do so. He commended him for it, and his colleague commented that when he was training at Sandhurst, they were taught that the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. 

The statement was famously made by Lieutenant General David Morrison, a senior officer in the Australian army, in a speech asserting his determination to stamp out discrimination against women in the military. He argued powerfully that avoiding participation in such discriminating behaviour is not enough: attitudes change only when they are actively challenged. 

In Jesus’ parable, the Samaritan knew this when he stopped to help the injured man in the ditch. Jesus preached it when he told his disciples to turn the other cheek;  to go the extra mile. Do more than others expect of you, to highlight when a system of obligation is corrupt. Refusing to accept something by reacting to it, rather than avoiding getting involved, is a risky strategy. It takes courage to choose the right way over the easy way. It forces us to consider the sort of people we are and what we are willing to accept in our families, at our work and in our society. 

Lord God, give us the courage of our convictions today, so that we walk past nothing which falls below the standards we hold for ourselves and for others. Amen.