Defining Moments

I was in Food Lion today. No list anymore, just an idea of what I need so I don’t get frustrated with empty shelves. Not many people were there, but the air was thick with tension. Someone had just been fighting. Over something stupid like toilet paper no doubt. The staff looked exhausted. As I went down each aisle I thanked every single employee that I could find. And as I left the store and passed the manager, I stopped and told her that I appreciated, beyond words, the war zone that they are working in right now. I told her that I always receive good customer service, that I understand that what is happening is not their fault. She just stopped and took a deep breath. And I thought she would cry. She thanked me and said that I had just made up for the last 10 people who were so angry and dissatisfied, she didn’t even know what to do. I couldn’t help but think of how much we take for granted. When we want milk, we go buy it. When we want meat, we go buy it. When we’re in the middle of fixing dinner and we run out of butter we send somebody to get it and they do. We. Are. Spoiled. And now it is time to be grateful. We’re all feeling the effects of this virus but there are so, so many facets going on that we do not even think about. And it’s time to think about it. It’s time to be grateful and thank every single person that gives us a service. Because they’re putting their lives at risk, while making ours easier. So they can get underpaid while strangers yell at them and take them for granted. 

I came home, put my groceries away and I cried. We are barely weeks into the crisis of this pandemic and if we don’t choose kindness now when will we?? Good grief, we’ve gotten so used to people doing things for us that we forget that we don’t have to go out and milk a cow or butcher a pig to eat dinner. In the meantime, these innocent people who are just doing their jobs are getting yelled at and treated like shit because we’re frustrated that there’s no toilet paper? I can’t. I just can’t see any of it and not feel affected by it.

These moments define us. So, who are we?!