The fleeting gestures of kindness and patience?

Kindness and patience are not difficult emotions to express, but they seem to be experiences that are fleeting.  So much so, that when I have the opportunity to experience humanity at its best, it can be a bit overwhelming.

On Saturday, April 22nd, I was at Fred Meyer in Ballard returning an item.  I was 4th in line waiting to be helped and there were 2 customer service reps helping customers.  There was an older woman who was being helped by one of the clerks.  She had a couple grocery bags and a long receipt.  She spoke rather loudly and asked the gentleman if he could help her.  She felt there were items for which she was over charged and asked him to go over the receipt with her.  He asked her if she could identify the items she felt she may have been over changed for.  She looked over the receipt and one of the items she noted was priced correctly.  She very politely said, “Well that’s ok, there’s nothing that can be done about that.”

Having stood in line with her for a few minutes and watched this interaction, I felt her struggle.  I knew she was looking for a legitimate way to get some money back into her pocket.  The gentleman was so very kind to her, I began to feel overwhelmed and started to tear up.  I felt a little panic inside and started saying to myself, “Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry!!”  Then the clerk said to her, “Well here’s an item that you were charged $1.67 and you should have only been charged $1.30.  We can get that back to you.”  The lady responded, “Well that’s ok.”  So there was no holding back the tears.  The kindness and care with which he helped this woman was so beautiful, it filled my heart, I felt such joy.  Then I thought to myself, I have 3 people ahead of me, that gives me some time to pull it together before I’m up.  So I’m standing in line, no tissue might I add, and I start thinking to myself.  It’s not just the clerk, everyone in line was so patient.  The 3 people ahead of me and the 3 people behind me, I didn’t feel anyone getting anxious or agitated as they were waiting.  The other clerk had been helping another customer with a return from out of state, so that was also taking a bit of time.  Everyone just stood in line, waiting for their turn.  The simplest things can be so very life affirming.  I write almost every night in my journal of “gratitudes” how happy and thankful I am to be living in Seattle.  These moments validate my decision to move out of the SF Bay Area.

I’ll tell you what, from personal experience, being born and raised in the SF Bay Area, if I was still in California, the customers and customer service reps would not have been so patient.  Seemingly, very few people have time to be patient and kind.  Everywhere I turn, we are losing our sense of community.  I feel, as a country there is no us, just me.  We are losing sight as to how interconnected we all are, to each other, the land, water, all life on earth, we are connected.  We need to start to care for and invest in one another again.  We can make the world what we want it to be, but it has to be a conscious effort by all as a community, as a whole.  Seattle still has its foundation in its communities and invests in them.  It’s quite beautiful.  I’m trying so hard to live my life, leading by example.  It would be so helpful if others did the same.

“A successful life is not found in possessions, money or material excess, but in love and respect for the self and others.”

~Joanne Walmsley – Intuitive Writer & Lightworker

Walmsley, Joanne.  Angel Number 1778.  blogspot.com, July 16, 2014.  http://sacredscribesangelnumbers.blogspot.com/2014/07/angel-number-1778.html.  April 25, 2017.