This weekend, I was coming out of Walmart with two shopping carts full of stuff I had bought for the group homes I manage. I was (of course) not asking for help with carrying all the stuff out to my car ... and (of course) NOT going to make two trips like any sensible person would. As I was exiting, I actually went by a table with a bunch of boy scouts standing around in their uniforms asking customers to help support them while their parents or troop leader was sitting at a table selling popcorn. Im guessing this is to raise money for their troop? I probably would have bought some if it wasnt so hard to navigate one cart in front of me and one cart in back of me at the time. But stubborn old me was definitely going to make this work, so I smiled and nodded towards my carts to signal I had my hands full and wished the scouts good luck and then started crossing the street. There was a middle aged man crossing the street to go into the store, and all of the sudden he yelled out, Hey, youre gonna lose your pumpkin!!! It startled me at first to hear a man yelling at me and I almost forgot that I had put the pumpkins below the cart. When I realized, I looked down and could see that they were starting to roll to the sides. I suddenly got this panicky feeling like everyone was looking at me and started getting embarrassed as I started to try to keep steering the one cart behind me and try to turn the cart in front of me to stop its momentum. I swung my leg around to try to kick the pumpkin back underneath the cart so it would not fall. I did not succeed, and the pumpkin spilt out onto the pavement and started rolling in the middle of the fire lane where cars were coming and going and people were entering and exiting the store. Suddenly a young girl, small in stature, with bright pink, short spiky hair and a big smile on her face cheerfully asked me if I wanted any help. My knee jerk reaction was to thank her but I truly didnt want to inconvenience anyone else. She said, It would be NO trouble! I have two kids, a five month old and a five year old, so I know how hard it is to have to many things to carry at once! She grabbed one of my carts and started walking with me over to my car and she just kept talking and helping like it was the most normal, natural thing in the world. And you know what the sad thing is? Its NOT the normal, natural thing anymore. I was thinking to myself ... I passed a whole group of BOY SCOUTS and their leaders (who kind of used to have a good reputation for helping us old ladies cross the street haha), a man who obviously saw me struggling but just yelled instead of actually helping me, and countless other people who had not one intention to offer assistance. And... dont get me wrong! I dont even blame them because these days if you offer to help someone, you dont really know if theyre going to freak out on you and end up suing you for harassment or for breaking their runaway, rogue pumpkins. I get it. Its just a different world these days we live in. Im not sure exactly what my point is, but I just felt a tremendous amount of respect for and gratitude towards this cheerful young lady who helped me without giving it a second thought and without expecting anything in return. It was poetic to me that a person who probably had it the roughest was the most willing to help. Bless her heart. She payed it forward. I plan on doing the same.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:56:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015