‘Some people!’ snorted a man standing some distance behind me in the long
line at the grocery store. ‘You would think the manager would pay attention
and open another line,’ said a woman.
I looked to the front of the line to see what the hold up was and saw a
nicely-dressed, young woman, trying to get the machine to accept her credit
card. No matter how many times she swiped it, the machine kept rejecting
it.
‘It’s one of them welfare card things. Dumb people need to get a job like
everyone else,’ said the man standing behind me.
The young woman turned around to see who had made the comment. ‘It was
me,’ he said, pointing to himself.
The young lady’s face began to change expression. Almost in tears, she
dropped the welfare card onto the counter and quickly walked out of the
store. Everyone in the checkout line watched as she began running to her
car. Never looking back, she got in and drove away.
Several minutes later a young man walked into the store. He went up to the
cashier and asked if she had seen the woman. After describing her, the
cashier told him that she had run out of the store, got into her car, and
drove away.
‘Why would she do that?’ asked the man. Everyone in the line looked around
at the fellow who had made the statement. ‘I made a stupid comment about
the welfare card she was using. Something I shouldn’t have said. I’m
sorry,’ said the man.
‘Well, that’s bad, real bad, in fact. Her brother was killed in Afghanistan
two years ago. He had three young children and she has taken on that
responsibility. She’s twenty years old, single, and now has his three
children to support,’ he said in a very firm voice.
‘I’m really truly sorry. I didn’t know,’ he replied, shaking both his hands
about.
The young man asked, ‘Are these paid for?’ pointing to the shopping cart
full of groceries. ‘It wouldn’t take her card,’ the clerk told him.
‘Do you know where she lives?’ asked the man who had made the comment.
‘Yes, she goes to our church.’
‘Excuse me,’ he said as he made his way to the front of the line. He pulled
out his wallet, took out his credit card and told the cashier, ‘Please use
my card. PLEASE!’ The clerk took his credit card and began to ring up the
young woman’s groceries.
Hold on,’ said the gentleman. He walked back to his shopping cart and began
loading his own groceries onto the belt to be included. ‘Come on people. We
got three kids to help raise!’ he told everyone in line. Everyone began to
place their groceries onto the fast moving belt. A few customers began
bagging the food and placing it into separate carts. ‘Go back and get two
big turkeys,’ yelled a heavyset woman, as she looked at the man.
‘NO,’ yelled the man. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. The entire
store became quiet for several seconds. ‘Four turkeys,’ yelled the man.
Everyone began laughing and went back to work.
When all was said and done, the man paid a total of $1,646.57 for the
groceries. He then walked over to the side, pulled out his check book, and
began writing a check using the bags of dog food piled near the front of the
store for a writing surface. He turned around and handed the check to the
young man.
‘She will need a freezer and a few other things as well,’ he told the man.
The young man looked at the check and said, ‘This is really very generous of
you.’
‘No,’ said the man. ‘Her brother was the generous one.’
Everyone in the store had been observing the odd commotion and began to
clap. And I drove home that day feeling very American
[A great example of why we should be kind and patient. Kindness is the
language the blind can see and the deaf can hear.]
~~
Dr Bob Griffin, www.grif.net
“Jesus knows me, this I love”