What would you do?

BY MONIQUE GUTERRES DOS SANTOS

In books, films, and newspapers, scary situations come up, such as robberies and kidnappings, and violence in general. I used to wonder sometimes, "If something like that happened to me, what would my reaction be?"

Then one day this past September, my mom gave me, my brother, Joao, and my sister, Bruna, a ride to school. On the way, my mom saw a good friend on the side of the road and stopped the car to say hello to her. When she stopped, Bruna, Joao, and I got out and started to walk the rest of the way to school. We had walked this route many times.

When we were almost there, four young guys came in our direction. The youngest looked like he was about 10 and the oldest about 17. They looked like a lot of other boys in my school, but they weren't too well dressed. But that's not what caught my attention. They began whispering to each other, and I knew right away they were going to try to rob us. When they were directly in front of us, the oldest one told my brother to give him his cellphone. He said that if he didn't, he would shoot him.

Everyone became quiet, but none of us reacted to the boys or helped them. As I was standing there, an idea came to me: "We are all children of the same Father, God, and we're equal in His eyes." I remember thinking that even though we have different skin colors, or sometimes act differently, we're all in the same family. People in a family try to treat each other like brothers and sisters—the way they want to be treated. They don't hurt each other. So I was very confident that these boys wouldn't hurt us.

Ever since I was young, I was taught by my parents and Sunday School teachers the Bible passage, "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose" (Rom.8:28). And also that God is "equal to every emergency, offering full salvation from sin, sickness, and death" (Science and Health, p.406). When the boys confronted us, I quickly thought of these passages. They made me feel safe, and I knew that God was governing and protecting everyone.

There was a bar near us, and, referring to my brother, I said firmly to them, "Listen, he is not going to give you the cellphone. There's a bar over there and there's a policeman inside." I sometimes see policemen go into the bar for a snack, and I thought there might be one there. The boys went running.

This experience taught me a lot about how important it is to see people with pure eyes. What I mean is, not to stereotype people, and to understand that we are all perfect, satisfied children of God. I think this will help people see themselves differently, and see that they don't need to take anything from someone else to be happy. The same divine Love that satisfies me, satisfies everyone, including those four boys.

I haven't seen them again, even though I still walk to school the same way. And I'm not afraid.

Now, when I watch soap operas on TV, I know that if I'm ever in a difficult situations, similar to one I might see on a certain program, I'll be able to handle it. CSS

Send a comment to the editors