Never Judge Someone
"Some people!' snorted a man standing behind me at 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!" said the
man standing behind me. The young woman turned around to see
who had made the comment.
"It was me," he said, 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 for a season, I had learned never to judge ANYONE without
knowing the circumstances of their life. This turned out to be the case
today.
A few moments after the lady ran away, a young man walked into the
store. He went up to the cashier and asked if she had seen the woman. After
describing her, the cashier told him 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 is twenty
years old, single, and now has three children to support." He said in a
very "I'm really truly sorry... I didn't know." the man The young man
asked, "Are these paid for?" pointing to the shopping cart full of
groceries "No, it wouldn't take her card." the clerk told him.
"Do you know where she lives?" asked the man who had made the comment.
"Yes, she goes to our church." "Excuse me," the man said as he made his way
to the front of the line. He pulled out his wallet, took out his credit
card, and told the cashier, "Please use my card. PLEASE! 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. "Come on people. We
got three kids to help raise!'" he told everyone in line. 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 man. Everyone stopped dead in
their tracks. The entire store became quiet for several seconds. "Four
turkeys!" yelled the man.
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 a check using the bags of
dog food piled near the front of the store for a writing surface. He turned
around and handed the check to the young man. "She will need a freezer and
a few other things as
well." he told the man. The young man looked at the check and said, "This
is really very generous of you." No." said the man. "Her brother was the
generous one." Everyone in the store had been watching the odd commotion
and began to
clap. And I drove home that day feeling very American. We live in the Land
of the free, because of the Brave!!! Remember our Troops of Yesterday and Today!!!
This is a great example of why we should be kind and patient. Kindness is
the language the blind can see and the deaf can hear.
May God's many blessings continue to be
with you... ALWAYS!!!
IN GOD WE TRUST
That scene would cause a real run on kleenex for the market also!
Great story
Sassy, where did you find that story? I loved it. [cool]
This story is a real tear-jerker . . .
But, I guess that I am a bit cynical, and not much of an optimist. I would probably have the same negative reaction as the people in the grocery line.
I do see undeserving people receiving benefits. It is unfortunate that we have generation after generation of people on welfare. Worse yet if they are here illegally.
America - The only country in the world where the poor are obese.
/
Yeah, it's hard not to judge sometimes... I do it myself. Don't even know if this is a true story but all the same, makes a person think... in comparison to a lot of the world our poor are fairly rich...
A friend sent it to me via email.