Standing on the Side of Love & Compassion
November 8th, 2009 — natewalkerRev. Nate Walker, First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia Association Sunday, November 8th at 11:00 am
The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregation has launched a national campaign entitled Standing on the Side of Love. The purpose is three fold. First, every major religion has compassion and love at its center. Staying true to our religious values means standing on the side of love. Second, too much of our public discourse is driven not by love, but by fear, which often scapegoats particular people and deems them somehow less than human. This is a violation of all faiths, which are centered in love. Third, this campaign seeks to harness the power of love to stop oppression, exclusion, and violence. Sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association, it is an invitation to all people to stand on the side of love.
The Charter for Compassion is the result of Karen Armstrong’s 2008 TED Prize wish for religions to publicly affirm the Golden Rule: a global ethic to teach that we should refuse, under any circumstance, to carry out actions which would cause another harm. As people of faith, we unite with Karen Armstrong, Desmond Tutu and other international dignitaries to publicly affirm the Golden Rule. This global ethic, affirmed in all of the major world religions, requires that we use empathy – the moral imagination – to put ourselves in others' shoes. We should act toward others as we would want them to act toward us. The following passages represent but a few of the many world religions whose sacred text affirms the Golden Rule.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Articles about Compassionate Robbers
April 13, 2007 ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla - A gunman robbing a convenience store allowed the clerk to call 911 and apologized after the woman said she might be having a heart attack. But he still took $30 and cigarettes, authorities said. The masked man entered the Kangaroo Express store early Saturday in this Orlando suburb and pointed what appeared to be a semiautomatic handgun at 60-year-old clerk Mary Parker, according to surveillance audio/video released Thursday. He demanded access to the safe, but she said she didn’t have the keys. He told her to empty the cash register into a bag. He then pulled up a stool for her to sit down and told her he was doing this because no one would hire him and he had bills to pay. http://bit.ly/3YIc59
July 2007 WASHINGTON (AP) - Police on Capitol Hill are baffled by an attempted robbery that began with a handgun put to the head of a teenager and ended in a group hug. It started about midnight on June 16 when a group of friends was finishing a dinner of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp on the back patio of a District of Columbia home. That’s when a hooded man slid through an open gate and pointed a handgun at the head of a 14-year-old girl. “Give me your money, or I’ll start shooting,” he said, according to D.C. police and witnesses. Everyone froze, including the girl’s parents. Then one guest spoke. “We were just finishing dinner,” Cristina “Cha Cha” Rowan, 43, told the man. “Why don’t you have a glass of wine with us?” The intruder had a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupery and said, “Damn, that’s good wine.” The girl’s father, Michael Rabdau, 51, told the intruder to take the whole glass, and Rowan offered him the whole bottle. The robber, with his hood down, took another sip and a bite of Camembert cheese. He put the gun in his sweatpants. The story then turns even more bizarre. “I think I may have come to the wrong house,” he said before apologizing. “Can I get a hug?” Rowan, who works at her children’s school and lives in Falls Church, Va., stood up and wrapped her arms around the armed man. The four other guests followed. “Can we have a group hug?” the man asked. The five adults complied. The man walked away a few moments later with the crystal wine glass in hand. Nothing was stolen, and no one was hurt. Once he was gone, the group walked into the house, locked the door and stared at each other - speechless. Rabdau called 911, and police came to take a report and dust for fingerprints. Police classified the case as strange but true. Investigators have not located a suspect. The witnesses thought he might have been high on drugs. “We’ve had robbers that apologize and stuff but nothing where they sit down and drink wine. It definitely is strange,” said Cmdr. Diane Groomes, adding that the hugs were especially unusual. “The only good thing is they would be able to identify him because they hugged him.” http://bit.ly/3e55WJ
February 11, 2008 NEWARK, Del. – A Delaware woman received a strange phone call at work on Wednesday. A burglar called to let her know that the dog had been let out. Allegedly, Sara Sheats-McDonald broke into a home in New Castle County Wednesday morning. But in the process she let out the homeowner’s dog. Apparently this caused the 33-year old to be so concerned for the pet’s welfare that she alerted the owner to the status of the dog being outside. Upon receiving the call, the unidentified homeowner called the police. When police arrived at the home, Sheats-McDonald was still present. She was enjoying the comfort of the home with lit candles, a slice of cake and a glass of milk. While the suspect was taken without incident, she later kicked an officer who was putting her in a police cruiser. She is charged with burglary, theft and offensive touching of a police officer. http://bit.ly/2pwumR
June 3, 2009 GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - A Long Island convenience store owner confronted by a bat-wielding would-be robber said Tuesday he decided to show mercy on the man after seeing him collapse into tears and claim he was only committing the crime to support his starving family. The store owner provided the man with $40 and a loaf of bread and made him promise never to rob again. “This was a grown man, crying like a baby,” Mohammad Sohail, owner of the Shirley Express convenience store about 65 miles east of New York City, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. The man dropped the bread, picked up the bat and tucked the $40 into his waistband before fleeing, said Suffolk County police Sgt. John Best. Sohail, who moved to the United States from Pakistan about 20 years ago, said he was getting ready to close his store shortly after midnight on May 21 when a man in his 40s entered with a bat in his hand. Sohail said he tried to stall for a moment and then grabbed a rifle he keeps behind the counter and ordered the assailant to drop the bat. The would-be thief dropped to his knees and begged for forgiveness, Sohail said. “He started crying that he was out of work and was trying to feed his hungry family,” he said. “I felt bad for him. I mean, this wasn’t some kid.” He said he tossed $40 to the man, who then stood up and told Sohail he wanted to become a fellow Muslim. Sohail said he then pretended to swear the man into the Muslim faith and two ended up shaking hands. Sohail said he went to the back of the store to get some milk to give to the man, but when he returned the man had fled. He said he called police and reported the attempted robbery, but he doesn’t want to press charges if the man is ever caught. Best said detectives have reviewed a store surveillance video of the attempted holdup, but said it would be difficult for anyone to identify the suspect because he was wearing a mask. Sohail, who said he had never been the victim of a robbery attempt, said he didn’t expect any accolades for what he had done. “I’m a very little man. I just did a good job,” said the married father of one. “I have a good feeling in my heart. I feel very good.” http://bit.ly/wkjBs
October 20, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS — A man who police said was involved in a bizarre robbery in which he hugged and prayed with a frightened store clerk turned himself in after his mother saw him on TV. Indianapolis police Lt. Jeff Duhamell said Gregory Smith, 23, had a gun when he went to the Advance America Store in the 900 block of East Washington Street Monday. Police said Smith jumped behind the counter and pointed a gun at the female clerk, but then became remorseful when she began crying and talking about God “He, at that time, starts to basically console her,” said Indianapolis police Detective Kevin Wethington. Police said the robber told the clerk that he hated to do it, but times are hard and he has a 2-year-old child to support. Surveillance video showed the clerk praying with the robber, who even went so far as to hug the frightened female clerk. “They were actually praying at this point about the decisions that he’s making,” Wethington said. When the clerk pleaded with the gunman not to shoot her, police said he made a shocking gesture to put her at ease. “He reaches down, hands her the bullet out of his gun,” Wethington said. After 30 minutes of conversation with the clerk, the robber grabbed about $20 from the register and the clerk’s cell phone before he left, investigators said. Police said Smith was identified in a police photo lineup on Tuesday. He is expected to be charged with robbery. http://bit.ly/4eL5Hi
October 22, 2009 ORLANDO A burglar with a conscience returned a keepsake containing a boy’s ashes to his Orlando mother after seeing the woman talk about it on television. The ashes were in a small vial that looks like a necklace. It, along with jewelry, money, a television and other things were swiped when Emely Santana’s home was ransacked this week. Santana is still grieving the June death of 18-year-old son Giovanni Perez. She picks up his urn when she’s sad to feel closer to him, and planned to give the necklace to her mother. Santana got her wish on Wednesday. The stolen vial reappeared in the back of her car, wrapped in the comics section of the newspaper. The other things are still gone, but the grieving mom said she can replace those. http://bit.ly/1PhBHi