... for even a thief may steal his way into heaven.

And so on this Sunday morning, the 5th of September, 2004, Ed. learned from Reuters the story of the repentant thief.

It turns out that in Berlin there was a thief who snatched a laptop computer and ran. The store clerk gave chase, fell and cried out in pain as he broke his arm. The thief turned back at this, returned the laptop and said "I'm sorry" to the injured clerk. The thief then ran off.

Ed. notes that the Reuters story wasn't much longer that this recap. And yet, Ed. asks, does not this "short" or "brief" (as reporters call such tiny stories) reveal a profound truth about humanity ... about the victim ... the assailant ... repentance and about hope?

Ed. said that whether one believes in a god, or not ... in spirits, or not ... in sin, damnation and the utility of punishment, or not -- there must be hope that those who do wrong to their fellows will simply stop ... or that they can BE stopped.

And, Ed. askesd is it not a sad and terrible thing to lose hope. How bereft of spirit is one who looks at a person and sees only hopelessness and wounds that can never be healed. The effects of this surround all mankind every day. This wound is deep within the law enforcment officer, or homeowner, who kills to stop another who threatens death or dangerous assault, as well as in the battered spouse who feels no choice but to kill to survive. It is in the homeless beggar living under the highway, or behind the garbage dumpsters, or in any shantytown across the world. It grows in the terminally ill, the battered child, the dishonest official. It is within so many, many people.

Hopelessness is surely in the hearts of so many parents and loved ones in Besslan, Russia, near Chechnya.

If only it were easier to successfully hang on to one's hope. There are times, it seems to Ed., when by all rights all hope should be lost.

And yet, sometimes, something happens to remind Ed. that hope exists. To be sure, Ed. said, hope, alone, is not enough. But without it, everything in the entire universe, too, is never enough.

Ed. said he wants to have hope, and he wants to share what hope he has with you, as well. This is why, today he re-reported the story of the repentant thief in Berlin. It is a deceptively small story, Ed. said. With so much at stake can there ever be such a thing as a small hope?