Today I had the misfortune of witnessing the most profound display of rudeness and disrespect I may have ever seen, from one adult to another.
There was an irate woman in line at the post office. I suspect she was irate before she walked in. However, when a man (most likely non-English speaking) made the unfortunate decision to 'cut' in the front of the line - in front of her & a few others, she began to spew hateful comments about him to the others of us standing in line. As if he wasn't a few steps away from her & could not hear. 'We' just glanced at each other, shaking our heads & frowning. Then once he got to the counter, she shouted at the postal worker (several feet away), that the man should be at the back of the line because he cut in front of her & how dare he & he understands enough not to do that & how could we stand there & let this happen & this isn't right & she was there before him & he CUT! The poor man just looked at her as if she had horns sprouting from her head (which I did actually see) & proceeded on to the counter. At that point I said, 'He would have been finished with his business by now if you had just let him go peacefully'. To which she seethingly replied 'I don't care'. The ironic thing was, not 2 seconds later, another postal worker asked if anyone needed help with something other than packaging, and the angry woman said she needed to get into her PO box and she didn't have her key. So she then 'cut' in front of 3 other people.
Treat others as you wish to be treated. The Golden Rule. I guess this poor woman never attended Kindergarten. Or never had kindness shown to her by a stranger. I said a prayer as I left. What I really wanted to do was call her a miserable, small, lonely person & tell her to stop bullying that poor man.
I was profoundly moved by the small gestures of kindness, of several strangers I encountered the rest of the day. Those are the people I want Levi to remember and learn from. People who respect others. Care for others. Are AWARE of others around them. We're all in this together people. You never know the circumstances another person might be dealing with, OR when YOU just might need a helping hand.
Matthew 7:12.
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