A Gate-Crasher's Change of Heart - washingtonpost.com

A Gate-Crasher's Change of Heart - washingtonpost.com relates the very odd story of a "robbery gone right".

Short version: robber with gun walks in on dinner party, demands money. Diners invite him to join them; he agrees, has a bit of cheese with his wine, then asks for a hug. Yes, a hug. Then a group hug. Then he walks away without any money, having hurt nobody.

Several interpretations come to mind. The first is that Gavin De Becker is right - intuition is very powerful and can be your friend in a time of crisis. I'm betting that there was something in the robber's demeanor that the first diner picked up on, that the words "join us" would be a strategy that would work with this particular armed man at this particular time.

Having read De Becker's "The Gift of Fear" I've become persuaded that any sort of hard-and-fast rules about dealing with dangerous situations - to always do this, to never do that - are probably bad.

I doubt anybody's list of "what to do when confronted by an armed robber" would include "invite him to join you for a glass of wine".

Having said that, I'm sure there's a starry-eyed pacifist out there somewhere who will seize upon this incident as "proof" that all conflict can be resolved peacefully.

Other interpretations - the robber may well have been bipolar or suffering from some other mental disorder, as the shift from robbery to hugging seems abrupt and unnatural to me. At the very least he doesn't seem like a hardened career criminal, who (I imagine) would be more task-centered. Dangerous, yes, but not acting like someone pursuing a goal - he was too easily distracted for that interpretation to seem valid to me.

Also, it reminds me that I need to carry my own gun even in my back yard, and to remember to lock the gate.

Hat tip to National Review.