Send me examples of "there but for the Grace of God go I"

So here's my example- I was taking two of my kids to the Chicago train station to go east to visit family. I had to stop at my job (at the time I was working at the Museum of Science and Industry) -for some reason, my husband (at the time) was taking the other two kids by car out east- so i took the bus from oak park to the southside of chicago, dropped off the work I had to leave at MSI, and went to take the bus downtown. I was pretty streetwise normally, but when you have young children, your focus changes-so I was gripping the kids one with each hand and had my purse over my shoulder. Suddenly a couple of people pushed through the crowd waiting for the Jeffrey Express downtown- I was annoyed but didn't really pay attention- I had the money for the bus (the kids were under aged 5 so they were free) and as I handed it to the driver I realized my purse was open and my wallet was gone- I'm sure I yelled out in surprise and upset- but there were a lot of people pushing to get on, so I got the kids in a seat and exclaimed' Oh no" what are we going to do?" Patrick got very upset and started crying- this was before cell phones, etc- and I couldn't figure out how we could take an overnight amtrak train with no money and no credit card-the kids were both crying and I probably was too- Sarah would have been maybe 4 and Pat 3-everyone was looking at me-and as we got to the Art Institute and I pulled the strap to stop the bus, a black woman pushed $10 into my hand- "Look, I don't know if you are scamming, " she said, but a white lady was nice to my husband, so take this ." I was totally embarrassed-after all, my husband and I both had jobs, but with four kids, we didn't have a lot of money and I was supposed to get on a train east. I took the money and thanked her and got off the bus. This would have been in the early 80's-still lots of racism in Chicago (as sadly there is now) and there was an uneasy relationship between most white and black folks in the city-but it was an act of faith for this woman to give me money. The end of the story is I was able to call my neighbors, they brought me some cash, we took the train, and I was never able to tell that woman what it meant to me that she helped me out. But whenever someone approaches with a hand out, I almost always give them something because I think "there but for the Grace of God, go I."

There, but for the Grace of god , Go i

Labor Day 2007
Listening to "Humankind: Barely Getting By" a documentary by David Freudberg
(http://www.humanmedia.org/catalog/home.php)
and it reminded me of one of my favorite folk sayings, ie, "there but for the Grace of God, go I"
it reflects the compassion I was taught by my parents, by the catholic church, and by the world religions i've studied and sometimes participated in- especially (at least as I understand it) Buddhism
(1) If americans, who have so much, could only adapt this as their worldview, think what we could do-if the corporate ceo's who as the introduction to this documentary point out, make hundreds of times the basic salary of the average american, could think "there but for the Grace of God go I" everyone could have health care, have enough to eat, be able to pay their rent or mortgage and there would be money left over to do good worldwide








1 see the wikipedia entry on karuna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karuna