Behold, I Stand At the Door and Knock...

...if any woman hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to her, and rob her, and beat her with her own cane.

North Carolina police say a 71-year-old woman was robbed and beaten with her own cane after getting a glass of water for a stranger at her door.

The robbery happened after dark on Monday.

The woman told police that a man came to her door and asked for a glass of water. She told him if he would go to the street, she would put some water for him on the front porch.

When she returned to the door, the man rushed from the street, knocked her down, and started beating her with her cane.

The robber stole some money and ran away.

Setting aside the woman's tragic act of charity, she tried to act wisely, by having the criminal back up to the street, but it obviously wasn't far enough.

And, forced to use a cane, it's unlikely that, even if she owned a handgun, she could manipulate cane, water and handgun simultaneously.

And so the world gets a little colder, when a charitable impulse is repaid with violence.