Something ... a lot of us should think about
BEFORE opening our mouth-hole in public ...
Especially, when we obviously are not aware of the circumstances involved or the
pain they could so easily cause others ...
'Some people!' snorted a gentleman standing behind me in the long line at the grocery store.
'You would think the manager would pay attention and open another line,' said another woman.
I looked to the front of the line to see what the hold up was and saw a well dressed, young woman,
trying to get the machine to accept her credit card.
No matter how many times she swiped it, the machine kept rejecting it.
'It's one of them welfare card things. Darn people need to get a job like everyone else,' opined the man standing behind me.
The young woman turned around to see who had made the comment.
'It was me,' he said, proudly pointing to himself.
The young lady's face began to change expression. Almost in tears, she dropped the welfare card onto the counter and quickly walked out of the store.
Everyone in the checkout line watched as she began running to her car. Never looking back, she got in and drove away.
After developing cancer in 1977 and having had to use food stamps; I had learned never to judge anyone, without knowing the circumstances of their life.
This certainly turned out to be the case today.
Several minutes later a young man came into the store and going up to the cashier, asked if she had seen a woman, that he described to her.
The cashier answered by explaining how it was that she knew of her and that she had run out of the store, gotten into her car, and driven away.
'Why would she do that?' asked the man.
Everyone in the line looked around at the fellow who had made the statement.
'I made a stupid comment about the welfare card she was using. Something I shouldn't have said.
I'm sorry,' said the man.
'Well, that's bad, real bad, in fact. Her brother was killed in Afghanistan two years ago. He had three young children and she has taken on the responsibility of raising
them ... She's twenty years old, single, and now has three children to support,' he said in a voice so low you could only just barely hear.
'I'm really truly sorry ... I mean ... I didn't know,' said the man, shaking both his hands about in obvious though now too
late ... remorse.
The young man asked, 'Are these paid for?' pointing to the shopping cart full of groceries.
'No, the machine wouldn't take her card,' the clerk told him.
'Do you know where she lives?' asked the gentleman behind me, who'd made the comment.
'Yes, she goes to our church,' the young man answered.
'Excuse me,' said the gentleman behind me, pulling out his wallet, and removing his credit card from it, as he made his way to the front of the line and telling the cashier, 'Here, please use my
card ...'
The clerk took his credit card and began to ring up the young woman's groceries.
'Hold on,' said the gentleman. He walked back to his shopping cart and began loading his own groceries onto the belt to be included.
Adding, 'Come on people. We got three kids here to help raise !'
Everyone began to place their groceries onto the fast moving belt. A few customers began bagging the food and placing it into separate carts.
'Go back and get two big turkeys,' yelled a heavyset woman, as she looked at the man.
'NO ! ! !' yelled the gentleman.
Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. The entire store became quiet for several seconds.
'Make that FOUR turkeys,' he yelled.
Everyone began laughing and went back to work. When all was said and done
the man paid a total of $1,646.57 for the groceries.
He then walked over to the side, pulled out his check book, and began
writing another check using the bags of dog food piled near the front of the store for a writing surface.
When he finished writing, he turned around and handed the check to the young man saying, 'She will need a freezer and a few other things as well.'
The young man looked incredulously at the amount of the check and said, 'This is
really ... very generous of you.'
'No,' said the gentleman. 'It was her brother who was the generous one ... to me ...'
Everyone in the store who'd been a part of this whole commotion ... all of a sudden began to clap.
As I drove home that day, I was feeling very American. We live in the land of the free, because of the
brave ...
Please remember all of our Troops. Those of yesterday and those of today ... This is
a great example of why we should be kind and patient.
As kindness is the language the blind can see and the deaf can hear.
May the many blessings of America continue to be with all of us.
Hopefully this will not only open a few eyes and many hearts but maybe even keep a few of our mouths
shut ...
Oh yes, one other thing ... I'm NOT checking to see if this is a true story on
Snopes.
It doesn't make any difference, because it is where the message comes from that makes it
worthwhile ... our hearts.
And so it is that ... we should be thinking about such things as this.
Author Unknown
Dedicated to the fallen heroes and their families
of war. These heroes like Christ gave their life for us.
Now I look in fear lest I recognize a boy who is staring at me with death written in his eyes
And now from face to face my eyes dart and spin for in a country as large as ours
every boy is our next of kin
Author Sylvie Lukeman
Look For Me At The Feet Of Jesus
Booth Brothers
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