To the editor:
A couple of days before Christmas, I was in a local grocery store to pick up a couple of items for my neighbor. I was dressed for the weather, LL Bean jacket and boots and while I didn’t look like I had just stepped out of a fashion magazine, I looked presentable. Prior to the grocery store I had made a purchase elsewhere and stuck the leftover cash ($8) in my pocket. Thinking I was only going to buy what I planned, I left my purse in the car, knowing I had enough money in my pocket.
As I went down the aisle, I saw a few items I thought I needed so put them in my basket. As I approached the cashier I realized I didn’t have enough money on me to pay for what I had so I told the cashier, “I need to go to my car (which I could see from where I was standing) for my purse because I know I don’t have enough cash on me,” the woman behind me immediately said, “Oh, don’t bother, I have it” so I said “OK” and thanked her for the dollar and a quarter temporary loan, and telling her I would get the cash and bring it back to her. As I handed the cashier the $8 cash, she said, while looking at the woman behind me, “She paid it all” so as I kept saying “thanks but I really don’t need you to do this, I have money in the car, “ she continued to say, “I want to do it.” As we went back and forth, she said, “Please let me do it, I have been practicing random acts of kindness, consider you’ve been randomized and pass it on.” She didn’t appear wealthy but she has a heart of gold.
At my next stop, I saw a bell ringer for the Salvation Army and I placed a $10 bill in the kettle and uttered a thanks to the kindness of a stranger, who reminded me there are still good people in this world. You just don’t always see them.
So thanks, friend, whoever you are. I never knew your name and probably won’t recognize your face but I’ll always remember how you made me feel.
Doris Sherman
Oakfield
