There's Hope

Scenario:

I'm rushing through the supermarket to get home with dog food, juice, milk and ice cream.

I'm afraid that the ice cream will melt in the 90 degree heat. 

I look for the check out line with the least amount of people.  I go to the express, 12 items or less line (I have less than 12...) and queue up.

Just then a little old lady approaches.  I really mean little and old.  Four feet tall, at least late eighties with three or four items and her cane in the carriage.

I look at her and then I look at my ice cream.  I look back at the old woman.

Hmmm...what's a Cub Scout to do.

I then offer her my place in line in the spirit of "what goes around comes around."  She protests but allows me to give her my spot.

Here's where the real magic happened.  The guy in front of me, around my age, with gray hair and dressed as I was in shorts and a tee shirt, sees what's going on and offers the woman his place. 

She protests again but he starts emptying her carriage.

She can't get over it and is complimenting us both on being such "fine gentlemen."

The cashier starts to tally her up.  She could use a special coin that the market gives out to save money on a selected item but doesn't have one.  I give the cashier one of mine and the transaction continues.

The bagger puts the groceries in plastic and the woman says she'd prefer paper so I take the stuff out of the plastic and put it into some paper bags.

When the total appears on the screen and the woman is short, literally and figuratively  She mumbles something about going to the car to get money from her husband but no one is paying attention. I look how much the shortfall is and if it is a buck or two I'll kick in.

It's over $15.00, a bit steep for my Samaritan impulses and, believe me, at that moment, I feel really bad and bemoan the fact that I hadn't done my homework in high school so I would have a better paying job and could afford to treat the old woman to her groceries.

But just then my compatriot jumps in!  He asks the cashier how much the difference is and forks over a twenty!

The woman is embarrassed and says so but is also taken by the guy's generosity.  She tries to get his address so she can send him money but he won't hear of it.  She then starts to push her carriage away all the while extolling our virtues.

The guy and I shake hands and talk about the fact that what we did, he really more than I, is a lost art, a forgotten social norm.

Caring for others.  Thinking of your fellow man.  Helping an old lady cross the street.

We are a society of special interests whether in Washington or on Main Street.  My parking space, my flowers, my kids, "my back yard."  Mine, mine, mine...

When I finally checked out the girl behind the counter thanked me and said "God Bless You."

I'm not formally religious and have my questions about God but in that moment her remark felt great.

I had done a selfless thing which, in turn, prompted another to do a selfless thing which, in turn, made an old woman, in the twilight of her existence, feel like there were still people out there willing to see the good and to help and to give love.

And it is true about the Kharma thing.

The ice cream, Rocky Road by the way, made it home still, more or less, frozen and all was right with the world on a hot summer evening in Connecticut.