The miracle started with unpleasant robbery in Liverpool, NSW – a small satellite city 32km south-west of Sydney CBD. But what happen next will blow your mind and restore your faith in humanity. True story! And I witness it unfold!

A Bad Day for Arthur

Macquarie Street – Liverpool, NSW

Arthur is a pensioner. He is 71. Living in very expensive Sydney on pension is not for the fainted heart. It’s tough!

It’s Monday morning and he was running low on cash, Arthur decided to take a bus to Macquarie Street, Liverpool to get some money from ATM as usual. But nothing usual is about to happen.

It’s almost 9 am. Arthur gets off the bus, walk to ATM and take the usual caution not to show any wallet in sight to make it more discreet that he is about to take some money. Arthur then withdraw $440 – his entire pension allowance with his key card, when suddenly a man of Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander in appearance, about 170-175cm tall with a thin build approach him and ask “Have you got a smoke?”

And without any warning, the man pushes Arthur, grab all his money and just walk away. Upon recover from his stumble, Arthur realised that he have been mugged! And the mugger did not even think he needs to run. Adding salt to the wound, the robber just shows to Arthur that he was an easy target. Maybe, he did it before.

Shaking and still in shock, Arthur cannot believe what has happened to him. He lost all of his money he got and nobody helps him! It is not like in the middle of the night… he is in the middle of the main street at 9 am in the morning where people walking around starting the first hour of a working week.

Imagine that: you are robbed of all you got because you cannot defence yourself, nobody help you and where is all the justice in the world? You are pissed, shocked but sad as well….

Try to console himself, Arthur just thinks that at least he was not hurt and manage to go to the Police station to report the daylight robbery.

One of the finest in the world, the NSW Police kickstart the investigation: send detectives, collecting some CCTV footage and try to identify the man. And one small thing they always do, they put media release as usual (click this screen capture if the link has broken), asking if the public can help them identify the perpetrator. dk#26b4e91b

Miracle in the making…

It was his normal afternoon slot “Sydney Live” on radio 2GB 873AM for Australian journalist and radio personality Ben Fordham (Follow him on Twitter) – His producer includes the above media release to be broadcast:

“Polices are hunting a thief you can only describe as despicable who has robed 71 years old pensioner withdrawing money from the bank. What do you say –  I mean – I don’t know – 71 years of age – What a scumbag… for someone who got up and rob a bloke of that age and knock off his pension payment $440 just rip off his hand”

And with that sentence, the universe kick started the restoration of order.

For the next hour or so, the station was bombarded with the call from people all over Sydney offering $50, $100 even $440 to replace Arthur’s money. The spontaneous feeling of injustice and a desire to help a mate melted down the 873AM airwave that Tuesday – By the end of the hour a sum of $3000 have been collected for Arthur and as they have to stop it to continue with the rest of the program.

A little miracle for Arthur: on Monday he lost his money and lost his faith in the Sydney community, but the next day, facilitated by a talkback radio, a bunch of people that never know Arthur, lend a hand to replace his money. Arthur not only got his money back, but the money miraculously multiply itself by a factor of 7! What a miracle !!

Listen to the wrap up here on 2GB.


Hear the interview with Arthur at 2GB here impromptu.


He lost for words and said, “I just lost $440, why people are so generous?…” (If the link is broken, let me know, I put the MP3 recording here – all audio is from 2GBAM radio) –

You have to listen to the recording !!!

That’s made my day….

Well done Ben Fordham and 2GB team and NSW Police who allow and facilitate this to happen.

But also big congratulation and well done to all Sydney-siders who still want to lend a hand to a stranger. You all have proven to the world that there is still humanity, and as always, the goodness will shine!

So, have you ever experiencing an uplifting story like this…? Let me know your story below….!

Let me know your story below….!

 

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