Remember a few days ago when I said this is a time when we’d find out if we’re going to turn to each other or on each other?
Sadly, I’ve seen and heard a bit of box A and a lot of box B.
I had a text message out of the blue yesterday morning from a fellow I don’t talk to regularly and it simply said “just checking to see if you’re OK”
It gave me a real lift, such a simple gesture that would have taken 1 minute to send but helped me through the morning.
At the supermarket last week, before it really hit the fan, there was a group of people waiting for the doors to open and at that time what was most on people’s minds, yep, dunny rolls, and a lady who got in there first took a packet out of her trolley and handed them to an elderly lady and said “ I don’t need these but I wanted to help someone so here you go”
There were tears.
And then there is the other side of the story.
Today when I called to my local supermarket the lady on the checkout asked with a smile how I was doing. If she could not have cared less she is an amazing actor as it felt genuine, as if she really did want to know if I was OK.
“Not so bad” I said and asked how she was handling the madding crowd.
“I’d be better if it wasn’t for some people in here”
Turns out some creep had given her a mouthful because he couldn’t get the exact brand of some such thing he was looking for on the rapidly emptying shelves and it was apparently HER fault.
I do so wish I’d been there, I think I’d have considered it an early Xmas present to be able to defend the worker and let the pig know his actions are not needed, especially in these tense times.
That’s not the end of it. The manager of the store related stories of people pushing each other around for packets of rice and how a woman monstered a young man when he picked up the last bottle of soft drink.
So, we’ve come to this, and we have a long, very rough road ahead, where do we go now?
Try and find something, anything nice to do for someone else, no matter how insignificant you might consider the gesture.
Remember the text message?
Turn to, not on.