There Is Still Good in the World

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday and saw something I will never forget. We do not see a lot of kindness in this world today and I saw a glimpse of it waiting in line at the checkout. There was a man in front of me who I judged the minute I saw him. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a logo on it that I did not recognize, had his long hair in a pony tail and battered jeans on. He just looked "rough". We stereotype people so easily. A kid with a skateboard in his hand, long scraggly hair, black from head to foot is immediately a bad kid who does drugs. I know this because my son is a "skateboarder" and wears black most of the time. He is a straight A and as far from doing drugs as you can get. He and his friends probably do look a little rough when people see them at the park skateboarding. What they don't know is all of them are great kids and as good as the boy down the street who wears polo's and khakis.

That is why I surprised myself when I judged this man. The lady in front of him was an older woman, probably in her early 70's. The cashier finished scanning her groceries and told her the total. She handed him some money and he politely told her it was not enough. She then started digging through her purse, pulling out change and a few dollar bills she had at the bottom of it. She was almost in tears. The man in front of me asked the cashier how short she was and he told him about $50.00. He pulled out his wallet and handed her a $100.00 bill and told her to keep the rest of it. The lady cried and hugged him and he looked very uncomfortable. He still had his wallet out and was counting his money and looking at his groceries doing the mental math to make sure he had enough left. This is what got to me the most. He freely gave this woman a $100.00 bill and wasn't sure he would have enough left to pay for his own groceries. Everyone was telling him what a good person he was, how wonderful it was for him to give this woman money. He was embarrassed. I could tell he only wanted to get out of there. A lot of people would want to be recognized when they do something like that but he didn't. That makes it all the more special. I looked for him in the parking lot when I was going to my car. I didn't see him anywhere. I don't know if he was just a good person or an angel. The Bible tells us there are angels on this earth sent to help people. Whatever he was he put a smile on my face that day and I smiled all the way home.