“In for a penny, in for a pound” said London’s 71-year-old “Super Granny” on the Today Show this morning when she described single-handedly thwarting six thugs from robbing a jewelry store.
Half a block away, and thinking she saw a mugging in progress, the arthritic woman with her legs tightly bandaged on her way to dance class, Ann Timson of Northampton, England, ran across a busy street carrying a handbag and started pounding the young men as they used sledgehammers to attempt breaking into the jewelry store. Two of the men were on a motor scooter. She told Meredith Viera on Today “I am not a hero…I am just a mum that went in thinking a kid was getting hit.”
Now, I have never condoned violence, nor would I ever promote taking the law into one’s own hands, but I do encourage guts, and this brave lady certainly espouses the epitome of guts. She heard a ruckus, thought someone was getting hurt and simply forgot she was 71 years old; forgot she has rheumatoid arthritis; and forgot she was heading to dance class. My goodness.
So, how did she pull off a feat that could have gotten her shot – or worse? A martial arts expert said she made all the right moves to protect herself. She kept attacking, not allowing them to enter her body space. Timson said she had choice words for the thieves with every whack. One held a sledgehammer up to her, she wacked him in the face, and he put it down. “I think he realized I was just an old bitty, anyway,” she explained.
I love the words of the martial arts expert. She kept attacking, not allowing them to enter her body space. Amazed at the tenacity of this woman, I thought of those words and how we can use them to control much of the ugly stuff in our lives that does not even wield sledgehammers. When bad times come, plow through adversity, never allowing the cancerous nastiness to penetrate our body space. I love that she did not take into account that these guys were much younger, stronger, and possibly armed.
Obviously, I am speaking in metaphors --- goodness knows I think she should have called 911 from the other side of the street. Her son sat next to her on the set of Today and still seemed stunned. Onlookers stood and watched. Someone recorded the scene on a cell phone video recorder. Timson said she does not blame the people who watched. “They were mesmerized.” In spite of her difficult situation, she did not take even a minute to point the finger in blame.
As soon as she wacked the scooter rider and knocked the vehicle over, people on the street and in the stores realized what was happening and ran to her aid, but it took her keen intuition to take matters into her own hands and not join in the mesmerization. I can only wonder into which camp I would have fallen.
As one who recently received an AARP card in the mail, I was hoping that my agedness and frailty would gain me some excuses eventually, but after reading this account, I see this is not the case. Drats. I kind of hoped that I could sneak into old age allowing all the mouthy young people to fight life’s battles, but this little granny who is sometimes wheelchair ridden from arthritis, demonstrates otherwise. When we see potential destruction or unfairness in our world – either our personal worlds, or the big bad world, we can make the choice to keep attacking, not allowing them to enter our body space.
“Great acts are made up of small deeds.” These words of Lai Tzu, Chinese philosopher and father of Taoism, remind me of Timson’s brave act. She saw what she doing as helping what she was thought was a young person in need. I seriously doubt she planned to whack robbers or even muggers, and probably just planned to yell for help. What began as a small deed became a truly great act.
I don’t plan to take on any muggers or thieves any time soon, but difficulties do creep into my little stratosphere, and I now have a 71-year-old red headed brave role model who showed me how to keep attacking, not allowing the bad stuff to enter my body space.
By the way, her son plans to sell Tomson’s handbag on E Bay and donate the proceeds to charity. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41617717/ns/today-today_people/
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