I had to post this:
I just came across this amazing story about a New York social worker, Julio Diaz. He was mugged one night at knife-point. The young man asked for his wallet, he handed it over. But Diaz called him back and offered his coat. The mugger was stunned, and naturally suspicious. Diaz just replied, if the young man was willing to risk jail for a few dollars, he must need the money more than himself.
Diaz offered to buy his young mugger dinner, and they actually ended up having dinner in Diaz's favourite diner. The young man eventually returned Diaz his wallet -- and he surrendered his knife.
Says Diaz:
"I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It's as simple as it gets in this complicated world."
[Full story here]
Diaz's self-possession is what amazes me. If someone was pointing a knife at me, I would be too scared to see that the mugger was cold, and I certainly wasn't about to offer to buy him dinner.
This is true lovingkindness in action.
5 comments:
wow, that's amazing. I think I would have been too scared to try something like that, though. The cynical part of me is thinking "well, he was lucky, some people would have ended up stabbing him even in the face of kindness". But I want to put my cynicism aside for now. It was incredible of him to do that.
Nymeth A part of me agrees with you too, espeically if the mugger is drugged out and likely to stab him just for talking back.
But maybe he just saw that young man was cold and desperate. That as he was getting mugged, he was still in the frame of mind to pay attention to the other person.
Now -- this is what I want to believe. :)
What a fantastic story. Thanks for sharing itQ
Stefanie You're welcome. It's stories like these that make you believe there's hope in this world.
Wow, what an amazing story.
Nymeth: I think most of us have a sixth sense about people. If the guy thought he was really in danger, I doubt he would have called the mugger back. Still, I don't know that I would have had the courage to offer the guy my coat after he put a knife in my face. Takes some major courage.
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