Coffee Table Declarations
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to do a good deed. I was in CVS and there was an old lady ahead of me in line. Her cart contained a range of heavy items such as bottles of bleach and laundry detergent. She was taking a long time at the checkout and the line was growing. Meanwhile, she was asking the cashier if she could push the cart out to her car but he said she could not, due to the fact that the cart had one of those long metal bars extending upwards that would not fit through the door.
I stood there feeling like someone should do something. Why didn't the cashier offer to have someone assist her with carrying her purchases to her car? She just looked so feeble and old and there was a cane in her cart as well which she no doubt needed, leaving her only one free arm.
Finally she paid and it was my turn. I paid and then walked to the door. The old lady was standing there, trying to put all of her bags into a smaller cart with no metal bar. I couldn't stand it any longer. "Would you like me to help you carry those to your car?" I asked. I mean if I can sympathize about anything, it's lugging heavy bags (usually groceries in my case) around the town square in which I live (and in which the CVS is located). The old lady said, "No, they're too heavy. But you can watch the cart while I go get my car." I agreed, happy to help.
There I stood in the dark at the curb, while the old lady hobbled to her car and traffic rushed past. It felt as though ten minutes must have elapsed, when finally the old lady pulled up at the curb. She started to get out of the car to come around and load the things in, but I opened the back door and told her I would just put them in the back seat for her. As I was loading in the bags, she thanked me and said she would pray for me at church the next day.
How unexpectedly rewarding. I mean hey, I'll take any prayers I can get - regardless of the person's religious affiliation! I guess the moral of this story is that I learned that it is easy to help someone when you can. It took very little time and effort on my part but I probably helped her a great deal. The other thing I learned is that it must suck to be old.
I stood there feeling like someone should do something. Why didn't the cashier offer to have someone assist her with carrying her purchases to her car? She just looked so feeble and old and there was a cane in her cart as well which she no doubt needed, leaving her only one free arm.
Finally she paid and it was my turn. I paid and then walked to the door. The old lady was standing there, trying to put all of her bags into a smaller cart with no metal bar. I couldn't stand it any longer. "Would you like me to help you carry those to your car?" I asked. I mean if I can sympathize about anything, it's lugging heavy bags (usually groceries in my case) around the town square in which I live (and in which the CVS is located). The old lady said, "No, they're too heavy. But you can watch the cart while I go get my car." I agreed, happy to help.
There I stood in the dark at the curb, while the old lady hobbled to her car and traffic rushed past. It felt as though ten minutes must have elapsed, when finally the old lady pulled up at the curb. She started to get out of the car to come around and load the things in, but I opened the back door and told her I would just put them in the back seat for her. As I was loading in the bags, she thanked me and said she would pray for me at church the next day.
How unexpectedly rewarding. I mean hey, I'll take any prayers I can get - regardless of the person's religious affiliation! I guess the moral of this story is that I learned that it is easy to help someone when you can. It took very little time and effort on my part but I probably helped her a great deal. The other thing I learned is that it must suck to be old.
