Not long ago, the nightly news carried a story of hope. Every night, Julio Diaz, a thirty-one-year-old social worker, ended his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early so he could eat at his favorite diner.
But one night, when Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and into the deserted station, something unexpected happened. He was headed toward the stairs when a teenager suddenly appeared and whipped out a knife.
When the assailant demanded Julio’s money, he calmly handed over his wallet. But as the robber turned away, Diaz called out to him. “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”
The boy was dumbfounded. He looked at Diaz with disbelief and asked, “Why are you doing this?” Diaz told him, “If you are willing to risk your freedom for few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money.”
Diaz told the boy that he was on his way to dinner and said if the boy was hungry, he could join him. So they went to the diner and sat in a booth together. Several employees came by to greet Diaz, one of their regular customers, and he kindly introduced the boy to them.
Stunned by the evening’s turn of events, the robber asked Diaz how it was that he knew everyone there and how he was nice to everyone, “Even the dishwasher.”
When the tab came, Diaz told the teen he was going to have to pay the bill, since he had taken his wallet, unless he wanted to give it back, in which case, he’d be happy to pay for the whole thing, his treat.
According to Diaz, the teen “didn’t even think about it” and handed over the wallet. Besides treating him to dinner, Diaz gave him twenty dollars to help him out. In return, Diaz asked for the knife, and boy, who had threatened Diaz with the same knife not long before, quickly surrendered it.
Afterward, 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.
Matthew 7:12 (The Message) “Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them.”
Glen Schneiders
