TSUNAMNI OF POO

Kansas City at the Westlake hardware store on Sunday morning is the first time I met Norma.  Norma was standing in a full green winter coat, scarf, with matching purse and gloves.    Her actual height was approximately five foot but her presences was much grander that than.   Norma was standing at the checkout counter opening a box about the size of a shoe box to see how many tulip bulbs it had in it before she purchased it. 

 

I was standing behind her and in my typical ONRY mood I said, “now that you have opened it you must buy it.”   She turned to me and said, “I plan on it, just that a box of this size should more in it and you’re the man that helped me the other day with my car.”   I replied I did not recall that but try to help when I can.   She continued with the box while explaining that she buys the flowers and grows them to give to others.     During our conversation she mention that she needed help at her home and that her family was not nearby to help.  She was asking the clerk if they had someone that would wash her car, or clean the front porch at her house.    I gave her my home and cell phone number and name and told her to call me when she was ready for those projects and that I would either come do it myself or recruit family and friends to help.

 

We parted ways with her blessing me and putting my information neatly in her purse.

 

On the way out the several other people that were in the lines around the checkout counters stopped me to tell me that I was a “good” man.   My reply was that, “I did not do anything that you would not have done if you were next in line and would have heard her.”

 

My next stop that morning was at the Hen House just to grab milk and bread and few other essentials.  While in line I notices that the was a very  pregnant lady in line with a grocery cart half full of groceries and also a two year old little girl  with red hair that either was trying to help mom or wanted to eat everything in the cart.    Regardless, Mom eventually ended up holding the child on side since her other yet to be born child was taking up all the other space.   She continued to struggle to pick up each grocery item and then shift again to get the child back on her hip.    I was now paying and done with my shopping.    I put my cart aside and went back and knowing that a mother and/or a little girl was not going to let me hold her.  I just walked up, introduced myself to the little girl and started telling her about my little girl.   As, I continued telling her she held still for her mom and I was able to get all the groceries out of the basket.    We smiled at each other and she thanked me repeatedly as I walked off.

 

Each of these gestures took me less than ten minutes.  I not bragging, I just want you to pause and think about how you can change the outcome and the outlook of someone else’s day or problem with just a few moments of your time or kind words.    Now whether you voted for President Obama or not he is our President and he is telling us the truth.   We are in a mess; we will get out of this.   We cannot rely on the government to fix it all, and the fix is not going to be fast.    We must take some of the responsibility ourselves and we must do what is right, take responsibility.    If we start at the bottom and work our way up doing good, positive, small things they will eventually become habit.  If we all do our part we can change the tide this Tsunami of POO and make OUR land the great place it is and should be.