I hate it when people at the grocery store make me cry.
Also, those who proclaim our modern day society is deeply divided by race and gender issues aren’t paying attention.
I saw an encounter this morning that crosses culture boundaries and sheds light on the Hope that awaits at the bottom of our social Pandora’s box.
In front of me at the checkout line was a very old man in a mobility scooter. He had the basket on it in front of him filled pretty high. The family in front of him had a fair number of items. I settled in and prepared to wait. I had ice cream and frozen pizza silently thawing out in my cart but sometimes getting worked up over small stuff isn’t worth the effort.
As I waited, I noticed the head of the family two spots ahead of me. She looked angry as did her daughter. Meh. Who knows why.
The gent in front of me looked around him a little shakily. I followed his gaze and saw a magazine with Betty White on it and the congratulations on her 100th birthday. I immediately thought of the meme showing her being sad because she could no longer play with Legos as they are rated ages 3 to 99. That was funny. I wondered what he thought of Betty White, if he thought of her at all.
The family had finished putting things on the belt and were getting ready to pay. The daughter noticed the old man’s basket hadn’t been unloaded on the belt, as he couldn’t reach the items in the cart. She asked him if she could unload his cart for him onto the belt. He said, “no, the cashier can do it”. She gently insisted and he said ok.
The momma saw this happening and waved her daughter over to start the payment process. “No, hun, you go on. I got this.”
It was at this point I started to tear up. Public crowds are my kryptonite. My social anxiety makeup is such that too much exposure to people in crowds overwhelms me. I was already saturated with others’ emotions and stories and this tipped the cup for me.
I kept as best a straight face as I could by mama looked over at me. I barely could make a smile as our eyes met and I wiped my eyes. This unexpected kindness there me for a loop. She nodded and smiled to the gent and made small talk as she went about her business of helping him. He had some packages of steak. I know this because the lady asked him how he like it prepared. She no longer looked angry as she helped him.
The cashier was ringing up his items as this went on, and then she was done.
The old man carefully started to extract himself out of the scooter to pull out his wallet with his shaky hands. Before he could finish, the cashier stopped him.
“Sir,” said the cashier, “your groceries are paid for.”
He was confused.
“The lady in front of you paid for your groceries.” She smiled at him.
“But,” he asked, “why did she do that?”
“I dunno,” replied the cashier, “maybe she wanted to to have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.”
He completed the event of standing up and said, “No, I gotta pay it. I have to pay her back somehow.”
The lady who’d helped the man saw his quiet stubbornness, as she and the family had stayed back to make sure all was well with the transaction. She stepped up to rescue the cashier.
“No, hun,” she said, just like before, “you go on. I got this. Where are you parked? We’ll get those groceries in your car.” And off they went.
These stories are everywhere. We just need eyes to see them and ears to hear them.
And sometimes, hearts to live them.