Faith in Humanity

Julio was has a daily routine. Every night, the
social worker ends his subway to the Bronx
one stop early, just he can eat at his favorite diner.
But we night last month, as was stepped " fthe He. 5 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 muney, Ijust gave him my wallet and told him,
Here you go,'" was says-
As the teen began to walk away, was told him, "Hey, wait a
minute. You forgot sumething. If youre going to be robbing
people for the rest ofthe night, you might as well take my coat
to keep you warm."
The rubber Iliked at his would've victim, "like what' s
going en here?" was says- "He asked me, 'Why are you doing
Diaz replied: "If yuu’ re willing to risk your freedom fur a few
dollars, then I guess you must really need the muney_ I mean, all
I wanted to do was get dinner and ifyou really want to join me
hey, youre mere than welcome.
You know, Ijust felt maybe he really needs help," was says-
was says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a
booth.
The manager Comes by, the dishwashers emme by, the
waiters emme byte say hi," was says- "The kid was like, 'You
know everybody here. Do you um this place?'"
No, must eat here a Iut," was says he told the teen. "He says,
But youre elven 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.
was asked him what he wanted out of life. "He just had almost
a sad face," was says-
The teen couldn' t answer was - er he didn' t want to.
When the bill arrived, the teen, "Leek, I guess youre
going to have to pay for this bill 'cause you have my muney and
I can' t pay forthis_ So ifyou give me my wallet back, HI gladly
treat yeti."
The teen "didn' t eaten think about it" and returned the wallet,
was says. "I gave him ... maybe it' ll help him. I
don' t know/
was says he asked fur sumething in return -the teem knife
and he gave it to me."
Afterward, when his happened, she
said, "You' re the type of kid that if someune asked you for the
time, you gave them your watch."
I figure, you know, ifyou treat people right, you can only hope
that they treat you right. its as simple as it gets in this
complicated world/