On a peaceful summer morning, an older gentleman walked down a remote path, enjoying the birds, and listening to the sounds of nature blowing through the trees. He saw a young man approaching from the trail ahead. When the two met, the older man said, “Good morning, how is your day going?” The younger man paused and did not immediately answer. Assessing the situation, eventually he replied, “Old man, give me your wallet.” The older man was not shaken. He even smiled at the younger man. The old man calmly said, “Son, why would you want to do this?” The young man said, “I’m not your son old man. Give me the damned wallet or I will take it.” The old man, still calm, said, “You know, this is one of those important moments in life where you have choices that could change your life forever. Before you cross a line, you should give this more thought.” The young man now frustrated said, “Just shut the fuck up and don’t make me hurt you. Give me the wallet.” The old man, rather than show fear, smiled at the younger man and said, “Son before you do something you’ll certainly regret, ask yourself if this choice would be worth twenty dollars. You know you basically have five choices right now and one of them is definitely going to happen.” The younger man, increasingly agitated and obviously insecure asked, “What choices? You either give me the money or I will take it.” The older gentleman replied, “No son, there are five. The first would be the easiest for both of us. You realize this is wrong and could go badly. You keep walking and I keep walking. No harm, no foul. The second would be bad for me but worse for you. You take the money and harm me. Maybe I fall and break a limb. You walk away with twenty dollars, knowing that I will report it to the Sheriff’s department, and you will be hunted for robbery or worse if you have a knife or gun on you. The third would be horrible for both of us. We struggle and you kill me. You get twenty dollars and a lifetime of running or a lifetime in prison.” The young man was listening but not ready to give up. He said, “Just give me the damned money so we can end this, or I swear I will end you old man.” With that, he pulled out a knife and stepped toward the older man. The older gentleman quickly said, “Before you do this you need to know about the fourth choice. Now you have pulled a weapon and if you follow through with this choice, your best-case outcome will be armed robbery and perhaps I will live but this choice could have even worse consequences. Look at me. I am calm and you are not. There is a reasonable chance that I could get to my pistol before you ‘end’ me. This would be bad for both of us. You will obviously die but I am left with the Karma and baggage that this would bring. I will eventually be cleared but it is likely that one of your family members will sue me in civil court and the pain goes on.” Now frightened and shocked the young man realized he had not thought it through at all. He was willing to risk the chance of getting caught but he never considered that an old man would be packing. The older man could see the potential defeat of the young man and calmly said, “Put the knife away son. You know it’s not worth it. Let’s walk away and forget this happened.” There was a moment of silence and contemplation. The young man took a deep breath and put the knife away. He began walking in the same direction as before, bypassing the older gentleman. The older man turned around and asked, “Hey, don’t you want to hear the fifth choice?” The younger man stopped and turned around. He replied, “What other choices could there be?” With a soothing calm confidence, the older gentleman said, “You could choose to tell me what drove you to do this. Son, what could be so bad that would make you do something that you obviously don’t want to do” The young man was taken aback. He didn’t know how to respond. Why would this old man put himself out there like that? He stopped wondering and just said, “Mister, I screwed up big time. I stole a lot of money from my mother. My father left her years ago and she didn’t really have much to get by on, but I took it anyway. I blew through the money in a couple of weeks and have been taking from people ever since. My life has been hell since I took her money and I think about her every day. Yesterday I found out she is in the hospital because she tried to kill herself. I need to get home. I don’t know what I’ll say or do but I have to go back.” He had tears in his eyes and his nose was running. The older gentleman stepped toward him and said, “Son, realizing your mistakes is a great step towards making them right. If you are being compelled to go home, then that is what should happen.” With that, the man took out his wallet and handed the younger man six hundred dollars. The younger man was astonished. He thought, “What the hell?” He asked the old man, “Why would you make up a story about twenty dollars? Why didn’t you just pull out your pistol instead.” The old man laughed and said, “Are you sure I have a pistol?” He laughed again and said, “Son, just as you are compelled to go home, I was compelled to give you choices.” The older gentleman turned and continued walking as before the meeting happened. He listened to the birds and wind as calmly as before. He reached down and adjusted the holster hidden underneath his shirt and thanked God for the opportunity.