Good Samaritan

I didn’t make it home over fall break.  Instead, I spent my break being a Good Samaritan.  It all started Friday night at the grocery store.  Walking down the pet section, it reminded me of the stray cats I’ve seen all over campus.  I decided to buy the food, and feed the little lonesome cats.  The next night, the few friends left on campus and I decided to go and feed them the food and treats that I had bought.  This led to my fabulous idea of luring one of the cats into my friends apartment.  I did this by leaving a trail of treats into the front door and up the stairs of the complex.  It made it into the house and enjoyed a scrumptious meal at the top of the stairs.  After the encounter with the cat, we decided to go get a meal for ourselves.  In the drive-thru line, we found a homeless man who asked us for money.  My friend who was driving said that he didn’t have any money but that if he needed a ride we could do that for him.  So we drove this man downtown.  My friend’s car ran out of gas and the car started smoking created a horrid burning smell.  Although we were able to do something nice for both a cat and a homeless man, we ended up with a burnt up engine that night.  Should we still do good things for other people if it ends up hurting us in the long run? How do we weigh out when to help others, and when to keep ourselves unharmed?