You know how you squint your eyes on a sunny day when the rays are bouncing off the water's waves or the piles of snow. You know how you avert your eyes downward when you come across a couple engaged in an intimate embrace...
I experienced these responses combined today when i encountered an act of generosity while standing in line to checkout at the grocery store.
The story actually begins in the international food aisle. I overheard a mother explaining to her daughter the difference between a necessity and a want. I smiled as I thought that i'd just encountered a teachable moment.
After completing my shopping, I chose the shortest checkout line and pushed up my buggy. I was the third person in line. After a moment, I realized there was some delay as negotiating was happening between the checkout clerk and the same mother I'd seen previously. There were still items sitting on the counter and the mom was trying to figure out what to put back from her bags in order to purchase a few more of the remaining items. You see she was holding cash and only had so much. I could sense the desperation beneath her calm exterior. Between this mother and I was another women, she stepped forward and offered to pay for the remaining items. The mother at first said no, but the other woman again said she'd like to. The mother said that she didn't have a way to pay her back, but the other woman said she'd like her to just pay it forward. The mother said to the clerk that she didn't know what to do or how to respond. The clerk told her to simply say thank you. I had to back away and look down, eventually picking up a magazine. This moment was so bright and so beautiful that I could not look at it or intrude upon it. You hear people tell this type of story, but witnessing it was extraordinary. I know that none of us left that aisle unaffected. I listened to the clerk and the woman who paid for the groceries exchange details about their children. I played with the young boy who was loading his mother's groceries behind me.
As I left the grocery store, I was reflecting on that moment. My thinking was interrupted as I heard someone hollering at me "M'am, M'am - you left this". The clerk had run out of the store after me, wearing her short sleeves work shirt and carrying a bag containing a two liter of soda and a container of salad dressing. I couldn't believe she'd done that and for a bag with hardly anything in it. At least from my perspective, those two things in the bag are hardly worth all that effort. What a stark contrast to the mother that had checked out 2 people before me. She was having to keep track of each penny to get all of her necessities. Whereas I could so easily leave behind some non-necessities (like her daughter had been asking for in the international food aisle). I'm struck by my abundance. I'm aware that I have much for which to be grateful...
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