I went to the grocery store this afternoon. It was 102 deg. and so you can imagine what a sacrifice that was.
Anyway, I got in the express lane to check out and there was a young man (maybe 14 or 15 years old) in front of me. He had a head of cabbage and a couple of cans of tomatoes. The cashier rang it up and he swiped his card (I’m not sure, but I think it was a Food Stamps card). For whatever reason, the machine wouldn’t take the card (maybe the magnetic strip was worn or something), so the cashier manually input the number, and the kid input his PIN and the stupid machine still wouldn’t take it. The cashier asked him for his driver’s license, and he said “I don’t have one. That’s my mom’s card.”
So then a supervisor came over and she tried to manually input the number, and it still wouldn’t take. She again asked the kid for his driver’s license and he said, “I don’t have one. I rode my bike over here.” (Remember, it’s 102 deg. out there.) They were getting ready to make him put his poor little groceries back, when I asked how much the bill was. “$3.54,” was the answer.
I told them to put it on my bill. It was bad enough that he had to ride his bike to the store in that heat, but to have to go back to his Mama without what I’m sure was supper would have been too much.
An Aging Liberal Hippy from the Left Coast 
It’s amazing how that kind of stuff sticks with you, isn’t it? What a gift from God, though, that you could show generosity and the grace of God to this boy.
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Abbie, I love you for your compassion. You’re my role model.
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I came here from Elizabeth Esther’s and I just want to say thank you. What you told this kid (regardless of what you felt) was “You matter” Sometimes we need to know we matter…sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps our head up at all.
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The title “Feeling…” is because I’m not sure what I’ve been feeling. I obviously felt pity for the young man, I also felt really angry that he had been put in that situation. I felt pretty angry that the store didn’t just let him have the groceries. It would have been one thing if he had soft drinks and candy, but cabbage and tomatoes? And what was his mother thinking sending him to the store on his bike in that heat? So I’ve had lots of different feelings about all this.
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What you did for that young man will probably have a lasting affect on him. Who knows what that simple kindness on your part meant to him. God bless you.
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That’s why you are a better person than you realize. You see people in need of a little kindness and compassion and you react positively. I can’t tell you how many people I know would have grumbled about how long it was taking in the line.
For being human and a real Christian… You get a great big, warm fuzzy! 😀
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Thank you!
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