08/13/2026
⚓ DAILY ANCHOR: OOPS, I ACCIDENTALLY STOLE YOUR WALLET
Hi Friend,
My Uncle Paul was once walking through New York City when a man, running in the other direction, bumped into him. He reached in his pocket and his wallet was gone. And he saw where the guy was running.
My Uncle Paul was generally a calm man. Actually, I never personally saw him lose it—which I took for granted as a kid, but as an adult, looking back, that’s pretty extraordinary!
But this time, he got angry. He ran up to the man and shouted, “Give me the wallet!” The man stopped dead in his tracks, stunned, took the wallet out of his pocket and handed it to my Uncle.
Feeling like the hero of his own story, he called his wife to share the story. “Margie, you’ll never believe what just happened to me…”
Her response stunned him more than the alleged thief.
“Paul” she said, “your wallet is on the kitchen table!”
Of course he mailed the wallet back to the man with no return address and the note “Sorry. I accidentally stole your wallet.”
There’s an old saying that “hurt people hurt people.” That’s true, but it’s also true that “people hurt people.” All of us. Even when we don’t intend to.
Misunderstandings happen. People are messy. And we spend our lives bumping into each other in all sorts of unfortunate ways.
And it’s helpful, when we’re hurt, to remember that we hurt people all the time without even knowing it.
There’s something called the “fundamental attribution error.” It’s the tendency to explain other people's behavior by their character. (“That guy cut me off because he's a selfish jerk!”) While excusing our own exact same behavior by circumstances, and presuming the very best of ourselves. (”I’m generally a great guy. I just cut in because I was late for something and there’s a lot on my mind.”)
What the psychologists call "attributing motives," Jesus called judging a heart you were never able to see. And he called out this error long before psychologists named it. “Why do you notice the speck in your brother's eye but miss the plank in your own?” He also said, in no uncertain terms, “Do not judge.”
He wasn’t talking about actions. We SHOULD judge those so we know how to act.
He was talking about people. He was calling us out on attributing motives to those who hurt us. He was telling us not to waste our energy trying to right every wrong, or our lives playing judge and jury over the people around us. We’re no good at it. It’s above our pay grade because we can’t see into people’s hearts. God can. That’s why judging is His job.❤️🔥
And in a world filled with people bumping into each other, there’s often no intent behind the bumps and bruises we receive at all. So show a little mercy, and let more things go. Most people are just walking through life trying to get down their own street on their own busy day. Just like you.
—————————
Also, here's to my Uncle Paul, who died this past year. 🍸 One of the most patient and kindest men I've known.
If you'd pause and join me in a Hail Mary for him — and for my Aunt Margie (my Godmother, and a proud Anchor reader!) who misses him — that'd be a blessing.
—————————
God bless you,
Chris Stefanick
Real Life Catholic
Credit: ⚓ Daily Anchor, Real Life Catholic
