Actions speak louder than words

Yesterday my daughter and I went to the grocery store. A grocery store we don’t usually go to so it was full of new people and experiences.

When we got to the checkout counter and I was paying for my items, the person that was supposed to pack my groceries was an old lady so bent over from osteoporosis that she could not look up unless she stopped what she was doing and leaned against something. She is so crooked that it is difficult for her to even pack the groceries making me wonder why she is there in the first place. 

When my groceries were nearly rung through on the register, the lady still had not packed them in my bag. So I started to pack them because it would have taken her longer and we would have held up the line. And as many of us know people have very little patience now in the grocery store or for anything at the moment because we are always in a hurry. Always have to be someplace other than the place we are in.

Once the woman got herself adjusted and went to pack my groceries , she was surprised I was packing them. So she adjusted her body so she could look me in the face. Our eyes met and I felt the anxiety from her body flow into mine. I felt the plea that she was there because she needed to be not because she wanted to be emanate from her being. I addressed her and asked her how she was doing. Acknowledging her existence. She smiled and said she was doing just fine. Her voice brighter than I was expecting. Younger sounding than the way she looked. Indicating there was more to her spirit than the bent over lady her body presented. Taking me by surprise.

After I packed my groceries I reached into my bag, pulled out a tip and gave it to the lady. And thanked her for being there. The gratitude that spread across her face was priceless. Her smile genuine. Sincere. So much so I felt like a million dollars for making her feel worthy.

As we walked out of the store, my daughter asked me why I had tipped that woman even though I had packed my own groceries. So I told her it was because that woman needed that tip more than I did and sometimes when people come into our lives and we can feel their needs and can help, it’s up to us to do so. Not from a place of guilt but from a place of good.

I walked away from that lady feeling full of love and compassion knowing then that with my very action I had taught my daughter compassion not by lecturing but by doing and sometimes that’s what life is all about. Actions speak louder than words. Compassion is ever expanding. Life is all about sharing. And caring about our fellow mankind.