“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…”
From NPR Morning Edition
Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.
But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.
He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.
“He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,'” Diaz says.
As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told 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 would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, “like what’s going on here?” Diaz says. “He asked me, ‘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. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me … hey, you’re more than welcome.
“You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help,” Diaz says.
Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.
“The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi,” Diaz says. “The kid was like, ‘You know everybody here. Do you own this place?'”
“No, I just eat here a lot,” Diaz says he told the teen. “He says, ‘But you’re even nice to the dishwasher.'”
Diaz replied, “Well, haven’t you been taught you should be nice to everybody?”
“Yea, but I didn’t think people actually behaved that way,” the teen said.
Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. “He just had almost a sad face,” Diaz says.
The teen couldn’t answer Diaz — or he didn’t want to.
When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, “Look, I guess you’re going to have to pay for this bill ’cause you have my money and I can’t pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I’ll gladly treat you.”
The teen “didn’t even think about it” and returned the wallet, Diaz says. “I gave him $20 … I figure maybe it’ll help him. I don’t know.”
Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen’s knife — “and he gave it to me.”
Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, “You’re the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch.”
“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.”
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life
by Marshall B. Rosenberg
Julio Diaz in the article above demonstrated exceptional communication skills. In Nonviolent Communication, Marshall Rosenberg shows how such skills can be learned in a systematic way, illustrated by many examples. In essence:
- I learn to honestly express how I am, without blaming or criticizing
- I also empathically receive how you are, without hearing blame or criticism
Summary from the book: “Nonviolent Communication (NVC) helps us connect with ourselves and each other in a way that allows our natural compassion to flourish. It guides us to re-frame the way we express ourselves and listen to others by focusing our consciousness on four areas: what we are observing, feeling, and needing and what we are requesting to enrich our lives.
NVC fosters deep listening, respect, and empathy and engenders a mutual desire to give from the heart. Some people use NVC to respond compassionately to themselves, some to create greater depth in their personal relationships, and still others to build effective relationships at work or in the political arena. World-wide, NVC is used to mediate disputes and conflicts at all levels.”
Today you… Tomorrow me…
“ how the kindness of strangers got me to be more helpful to people…”
“So a family that is undoubtedly poorer than you, me, and just about everyone else on that stretch of road, working on a seasonal basis where time is money, took an hour or two out of their day to help some strange dude on the side of the road when people in tow trucks were just passing me by. Wow…”
That’s seriously amazing…. I’m gonna go try and get mugged just to see if I can do this, too. (and no, I’m not trying to be sarcastic).
!!! I have a strong suspicion that moments like this cannot be planned – and you could find this idea going horribly wrong!
If you want to test out your powers of empathy and communication, why not try volunteering to work with troubled young people – you’ll soon find out if you’ve got what it takes!
I agree with you. However, I doubt that I would be able to find another ‘Julio’ here in my place. At least from what I have been observing, people here love ‘mind your own business’. I am inspired by this story and do hope that I have the courage to do the same thing if I were to be in this situation.
Brave compassion. What could be better?
Hi Steven – Thanks for your comment – We’re hoping you’ll share a story from your blog, “Real Taijiquan”:
“..A man, lanky and tall, steely jaws and booming voice, cleared the crowd. Dressed shabby and acting angry, he plowed a wake, like a speedboat, as he walked. He turned at the sidewalk, toward me and my boy…”
What happens next?
(click on S.Smith…)
This only works if the person has a lot of money… What if he was just as poor as the mugger and had a family to feed? While the story is touching, it has a tiny effect on society and isn’t repeatable.
This scenario is portrayed in “Way of the Peaceful Warrior”….book and movie…Nick Nolte stars in the movie…
Nice image for the article.
Does Julio have the freedom to take this approach because of his gender? Fear of sexual violence is the undercurrent of many such confrontations for women. It’s a shame when history trumps altruism.
This is powerful stuff. I think that everyday we underestimate the power of forgiveness no matter what the situation. Show people what love is and you will get it in return. Thank you for sharing this story.