From a short distance I could already suspect his failing arms and legs. He rode on the motorized cart for the handicapped around the retail store where I work. I waited for him at the cash register, ready to ring up his merchandise. Slowly, he placed one item after another as I started to scan them one by one. At the end of the series of items, he took out his EBT card and pressed food stamps to pay for his merchandise. I was so happy that we made it and he hardly broke a sweat but his speed was agonizingly slow because he might have been handicapped from his old age.
"Queres una bolsa, senor?" I asked him. He shook his head and "no, por favor." He finished his transaction and the food stamps paid for $50 of his things, which wasn't much considering how much groceries costs in the world today post covid prices.
He looked at the register screen on the customer side and a frown had set in. I looked at it and it said $45.90 left on to be paid. He didn't speak English and from his physical appearance, he might be in his 80s or older. I wanted to hug him, and tell him that he didn't have to pay for it. His eyes moistened and I knew he must have felt vulnerable with his ailing arms and feet, barely able to get the merchandise into his cart, and now he couldn't pay for the rest of his groceries. I wanted to just fake his payment as cash to get rid of the bill and call it a day, but my job would be on the line.
"We'll pay for it," said the twenty-something woman in the line after him. She watched us without saying a word and she also must have noticed how vulnerable the senor was. "I got it," said the mother of the twenty something woman. "It's not a big deal, and he needs his merchandise," she said.
The Senor was teary eyed and he uttered, "Gracias," as his voice shook and nearly cried. I wanted to hug them all, and my eyes were moist.
Their transaction was added to the Senor's merchandise and the total added up to over $450 dollars for just groceries. I couldn't speak, and I never saw anyone spent that much on foods before. It was my early morning shift and I never expected this at such early in the day. I really wanted to say thank you, but my tongue was frozen. I walked from behind the register counter to the Senor who waited for them and I hugged him, then I hugged the twenty something woman and her Mom.
I cried after they left, not only because their interactions was so moving and poignant but also because they've restored something inside of me.
For a long time, I believed that most people are bad, and that humans were animals. The smarter the animal, the more evil they possessed, and humans were amongst the most evil of animals. I truly believed in that. But, for some reason, today...it all changed. The interactions between the senor and the twenty something woman and her Mom was the norm where I work. It happens everday and the other workers knew it as well, and I was just one witness amongst many. It wasn't a once in a blue moon event, it was an every day thing. It was normal.
Since the pandemic, I believe the world felt more vulnerable and humans felt vulnerability more than usual and that attuned everyone to want to be kinder. I realized that the world has changed eversince COVID happened and the world became victim of the pandemic with millions of people who died, including my own father. I saw humans becoming closer to humanity, people helping people and men and women starting to take care of each other. The world became kinder and I hope everyone became kinder, at every level. True, there are wars still going on and different parts of the world is still in chaos, like Ukraine and Gaza, but I saw some changes from closer to home.
I saw organizations helping people worldwide and although there are now more homelessness, but more homeless shelters and organizations are being mobilized. I saw people more attuned to their friends and family, and I hope texting is as frequent as voice calls on the cell phones. I hope things keep on changing, and people do become kinder. I really hope my observation is true, because I saw kindness become more and more prominent in small everyday lives.
I hope things weren't a fluke, and it wasn't an extraordinary moment, and it was truly just normal. If this was a fluke and if there are millions of people out there who disagree, I am more not sorry for saying so. I hope my sentiment becomes true and kindness is becoming normal for everyone.
#JustWrite