happy: blog 
happy's blog
did i do the right thing?
Published June 10, 2009Views: 68
Yesterday, I was in the grocery store buying items for supper. While I was checking out, a woman came in with her young (pre/early teen?) son. She got in line behind me and I heard her say something about "I hope the cigarettes are on sale." Then, I heard her son say, "Mama, we need milk.", to which she replied, "No. I can't afford that. I have to pay the power bill."
My heart sank. I turned and looked at them. The boy looked devastated. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes. As I was waiting to be checked out, a million thoughts were going thru my mind. I'm on a tight budget and have bills that are due but I knew in my heart what I had to do. When I got my change, I took $5 in the palm of my hand and I quietly turned around and whispered to her, "Here...go buy your son a gallon of milk. MILK. Not cigarettes." She thanked me, I gathered my bags and left the store.
What happened after I left, I can only leave in the hands of fate. I pray that she did as I asked and sent her son to get a gallon of milk. If she didn't, it's now beyond my control. I only did what I thought was right.
I'm posting this because there have been so many blogs on the right versus the left. The bashing of the "entitlement" train of thought. Keeping what is yours for you and your family because you earned it. And I agree with a good portion of that. However, when you break it down to this level do those theories still stand? Should I have listened to the conversation, pocketed my change and walked out of the store because it wasn't my responsibility to make sure that child had millk?
I couldn't do it and I'm not sure how many people could have. Further, I don't know if I want to know how many people there are in this world that would feel better about having $5 in their own pocket while the child behind them did without.
Filed under: Parenting
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Priorities. Much of the trouble with the "entitlement" group stems from just that... valuing things that are inconsequential - or just "immediate gratification" items - over those of substance and long term value.
Remember a song from way back by a fellow named Guy Drake? It was called Welfare Cadillac. Seems to me the lyrics were about the fancy car parked in front of the shack of a house... why not a serviceable car in front of a decent home with a mortgage being paid over time?
Sorry, but the truth is just what it is. Somewhere along the way, everyone has to make concessions in one department to get what they want in another - unless you're born wealthy. If that is the case, you're apt to see a repeat of the "poor prioritization" lifestyle... once again, funded by the proceeds of someone elses' labors.
GOLO member since September 20, 2007
June 11, 2009 8:35 a.m.
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