On Decency and Morality

Ideas are best expressed in stories. Today I'll tell you a couple of stories out of my own experience, carefully selected in the hope of getting my idea across.

1)

During her last year at work before retirement, my mother used to get her purse stolen way too often. You wouldn't expect pick-pocketing to be a major problem in a country as religious as Jordan (where she used to live), but for her at least it was.

The last time she got mugged was actually pretty funny. She had left her purse on her desk at the office and stepped out for a second to get something done. When she got back the purse was gone. Of course she got very upset and blamed herself for not being prudent enough. She told me the story over the phone and I could tell how upset she was. It wasn't about the money as much as the hassle of having to go through the hoops to get all the IDs canceled and reissued.

The next day, the purse mysteriously reappeared on her desk. All the money was gone, but her IDs and cards were there. I guess the thief couldn't live with the guilt of having his victim deal with card cancellation.

As for the stack of wallet-size pictures my mother kept in there, well this is where it gets amusing: Some of those were missing, and a few were still there. It turns out the thief took away all the pictures except the ones of girls wearing the veil, those he decided to return! On the surface it's kinda weird but the logic behind this is rather coherent. If you believe women shouldn't go around showing their hair, then pictures of unveiled women are just wrong. That thief didn't just rob my mother, he had also preached to her in his own way.

I was a world away, I didn't know how to cheer her up. Finally I emailed her a picture of me to replace the one she had lost. The new one was "theft friendly"... I had wrapped a towel around my head as a veil. That did the trick, she called back, all teared up of laughter :)


2)

My family and I were having lunch in a street cafe in Barcelona, overlooking the gorgeous Mediterranean beach. Like most beaches on the coast of Spain, clothing is optional. Now all of a sudden an old, big boned German woman jumps out of her tanning bed, and starts yelling at some guy in the distance as loud as she can. She was topless and shameless, and VERY LOUD.

I couldn't tell what the problem was as I don't speak German or Spanish, but for five long minutes this topless old woman had everybody at the beach and the cafes nearby stare at her while she gave it to the poor little guy. The man was fully clothed in jeans and a shirt, yet he was turning red with shame.

When this was over, I had to ask the waitress what just happened. As it turns out, that man was walking around the beach, trying to snatch a bag or wallet when nobody was watching. The woman had caught him attempting to steal a bag whose owner was swimming far away. Not only did she stop him, she made sure to cause such a big scene so that he may never show his face around that beach ever again.