| I had an experience last night (late) that I'm not sure how to sum up quickly, but was moved to the point that I fear I'll be a worse person if I don't share it. While at a local grocery store doing the obvious, I was standing in the checkout line. As is typical for this particular store there was one cashier on duty so the line was five or six deep which, given the hour, was kind of a shock. There was a very nice looking lady in front of me with a cart full of groceries. She said nothing to anyone and appeared to have a pretty bad cold as she kept sniffling and blowing her nose. The line progressed and she eventually was the one being "served". There was a young kid bagging groceries who made a light comment to her. "You want me to go get you some Thera-flu?". "No thanks. I'm not sick." She says.
"You sure sound sick to me." He chuckled, clearly trying to be overtly nice. "As a matter of fact, you're the worst sounding well person I've seen today." The kid told her. "How many people have you seen today who just lost their sone in a helicopter crash in the war?" She asked. She broke down to a level that brought total silence throughout an entire grocery store. Noone really knew what to say or do. The night manager came over to see what was up while we were trying pathetically to console her. Once he heard what happened, he pushed a button on the cash register, cleared her reciept and told her that the store appreciated her sacrifice. She slowly started pushing her cart out of the store. We all talked for a few minutes about how we'd all be if the situation was reversed. As I left the store I saw the woman sitting on a bench outside with her cart still full of groceries. I asked her if she were ok and told me that she didn't want to go home and be forced to watch the news as she has another enlisted son who's overseas. I'm not a big enough person to form any prolific statement, but sure seems that I personally should not take for granted what the person next to me in the grocery store line may be doing to help me or my daughter without our ever knowing it.
My NA got boost!!
 |
