A department store escalator during the month of December is a treacherous place. My two kids and I went to buy a pair of jeans for my son yesterday at a nearby department store. It was crowded, overheated, and bustling with unnerved shoppers rushing to their next appointment. Sophia got bumped off by a pushy lady (if I had seen it, she would have heard an earful!), then we watched a man struggling to pick up his broken bag of groceries from the top of the next escalator. People pushed passed him without helping. I took out Jackson's new jeans from the plastic bag and handed it to him.
"It looks like you could use this," I smiled. He looked at me with disbelief. Dreadlocks framing a young face, the man smiled back.
"Thank you!"
My kids' eyes lit up. "You're are so nice, Mom," they chimed in chorus. My heart rested in my throat as I saw they learned something.
Be kind. Simply because it is the right thing to do.
My son mentioned it at breakfast this morning again. "That was so nice of you, Mom." Sophia promised she'd help a stranger next time, too. I wiped away a silent tear of thanks for the man at the top of the escalator. Perhaps it's not always such a treacherous place to be after all...
