Wednesday, September 1, 2010

On Paying it Forward

Today something happened that I just can't get out of my mind. Something wonderful, something kind, something special, something worthy of mention.

As I was trying to check out at the grocery store this morning, I realized that I hadn't transferred money from the grocery budget into my main account, (our take on the envelope system). No problem I thought, I had my debit card, and I could use that to pay for the groceries.

Oops. Debit card expired yesterday...

No problem, I had the new card with me- I just needed to activate it. So I proceed to call the number, and I'm about halfway through the process when one of the three kiddos that I had with me got a case of the sillies and I missed the instruction being given on the phone- so they hung up on me.

Sigh.

Call back.

I was about halfway through the process again when a man came up behind me, slid a $50 onto my self scan register, said, "God Bless." and walked away.

I tried to catch him, I tried to explain that I had the money- but he just smiled and kept walking.

Wow.

No I didn't need that money, but I did need the good that he did in my heart today. A gesture like that can restore your faith in human kind. All day today I've been rolling it around in my head about how I'll pay it forward. There are so many people that I know who could really use a kind act (not to mention the money), but I think that doing something for a complete stranger is key. Someone that you know can never "pay you back", because you'll likely never see them again.

I hope that man had a great day. I hope that he realizes how much he made my day. I hope that he knows the kind of fire that he can light in a fellow human with his kindness.

I just cannot wait to pay this one forward!

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