Saturday, June 6, 2009

Mugged in America

The Czech playwright Franz Kafka once wrote these words to his friend Oscar Plook, “I think we need to read only books that bite and sting us...a book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” While mixing his metaphors, Kafka makes a valid point--good books ought to mess with our minds, challenge our assumptions and thaw out our preconceived understandings.

I’m reading one such book right now entitled, “The Monkey and the Fish” by Dave Gibbons. Wow! Gibbons refers to a story recently reported on National Public Radio about Julio Diaz.

Julio was a New York City social worker who lived in the Bronx. Every evening he would board the subway enroute to his home in the Bronx and he would disembark one stop early to eat at his favorite restaurant.

One night as he stepped off the No. 6 train and into the deserted station, something unexpected happened. He was suddenly confronted by a teenager who whipped out a knife and demanded his money. Julio calmly surrendered his wallet. But then Diaz did something astonishing. As the robber turned away, Diaz called after him, “Hey wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”

The teenage thief was dumbfounded. All he could manage to mutter was, “Why are you doing this?”

Diaz replied, “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money.” He then told the youngster he was on his way to get dinner and if he cared to join him he was welcome.

So they went to Julio’s favorite diner, plopped down in a booth, thief and victim alike. When several employees came by to greet Diaz, one of their regular customers, he politely introduced the boy to them.

After several minutes, the teenage robber asked Diaz, “How come you are so nice to everyone, even the dishwasher?” Diaz asked him if he hadn’t also been taught to be kind to everyone. The boy told him he had, but he didn’t think people acted that way in the real world.”

Then Diaz asked his young assailant, “What do you want out of life?” The boy didn’t express much of an answer.

When the tab came, Diaz told the teen he was going to have to pay the bill, since he had stolen his wallet. That is, unless he was willing to give his wallet back, in which case, Diaz said, he would be glad to pay for the whole meal, his treat. According to Diaz, the teen, “didn’t even think about it” and handed over the wallet. Besides treating him for dinner, Diaz also gave him twenty dollars, just something to help him out.

In return, Diaz asked for his knife, and the boy, who had threatened Diaz with the same knife only moments before, quickly surrendered it.

In reflecting upon the event, Diaz said that treating people right, regardless of how they treat you, is the simplest and most promising prescription he knows to bring people hope and to make the world a better place.

I want Julio’s response to be mine. Today and everyday. To absorb pain and to extend generosity, especially where it is undeserved.

S t r e t c h e d

originally posted on my old blog on February 16, 2008


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