Robbed, Broke But Thankful
During my tour of duty in the United States Army I was occupied as a musician. I
was a member of the 158th Army Band at Fort Knox, Kentucky in the 1960’s, and
some of my work involved stage band performances on base and in nearby
Louisville. On a few occasions we played at events in The Brown Hotel in
downtown Louisville. It was an elegant place with southern charm right in
downtown Louisville.
We would begin around 9 pm and finish after midnight. We played 50’s style jazz
and big band music while military officers visited with local political leaders,
celebrities and Kentucky Colonels.
After the job, we would load up our equipment in an Army truck parked in the
alley, then board an Army bus for the trip back to the base. This meant, walking
through the alley behind The Brown in the early dark hours of morning. Our
Sergeant always told us to walk with a buddy or in groups, due to the danger of
late night criminal activity in downtown Louisville.
One morning, around 2 am, I was walking through that alley with my buddy,
“Stick,” (we all had nicknames; I was “Berk.”) As we walked toward the bus, a
huge man stepped out in front of us and stopped. He was holding (and tapping in
his hand) a foot long lead pipe, that had electrical tape wrapped around one end
for better grip.
We stopped. I closed my eyes as tight as I could, my body shook and I waited for
the blow while praying. Stick was cool. Then the giant said, “Do you guys want
this pipe?” Stick said, “that’s just exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Quickly, we pooled our resources and bought that pipe for less than $20 (all we
had). The “pipe salesman” carefully gave Stick the pipe, said “thank you” and we
walked on to the bus without harm.
We told the story and the other soldiers on the bus reacted. They considered us
to be victims of extortion. We lost our money to a thief and only had pipe to
show for it. We didn’t care that our peers believed we had been ill-treated. We
were thankful to be safe and have our lives. (I was thankful I was with a friend
who was so quick of thought and tongue!)
Many years ago, Matthew Henry, a well-known Bible scholar, was once robbed of
his wallet. Knowing that it was his duty to give thanks in everything, he
meditated on this incident and recorded in his diary the following:
Let me be thankful, first, because he never robbed me before; second, because
although he took my purse, he did not take my life; third, because although he
took all I possessed, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was
robbed, not I who robbed.
By Warren E. Berkley
Final Page
From Expository Files 11.10; October 2004
