Redemption

I hate people. Pretty strong statement, right?

"Melanie, how could you hate people? I mean, you have family, right? A husband? Friends? How could you say that? You're so mean, so thoughtless - maybe you say that you hate people because people really hate YOU!"

OK. I don't really hate people, but I do get really frustrated with the general public from time to time. You know what I'm talking about - you're driving to the mall and some teen cuts you off in her Lexis (I'm sure it is her parent's Lexis and yes, this did happen to me yesterday). You're in the check-out line at PetSmart and some woman puts all her items on the counter while you're still trying to finish your transaction (yes, this happened to me a couple weeks ago - she even backed into me and didn't even realize it). You walk into the common kitchen at work and realize that someone left the counter a complete mess-napkins and crumbs everywhere (I have witnessed this several times). I could go on and on with countless other incidents that happen on an almost daily basis that make me say to myself "I hate people."

But yesterday, I found myself reconsidering this phrase that I say to myself so often lately. After I finished loading my car with my groceries in the grocery store parking lot, I turned to walk the cart back to the front of the store (I was parked closer to the store than to one of the parking lot cart returns). As I was walking with my cart, a nice man smiled to me and said "I'll take that from you, I need one anyway." I smiled and said "thanks!" There was something about the nice way he offered to take my cart that made me smile and think, "gee, that was nice. He was pretty friendly." By taking my cart, he not only saved me the time from wheeling it to the front, but he of course got the cart for himself.

Later in the afternoon, I was at another grocery store (another story all together). All I wanted was ice cream (my downfall). I picked out two cartons (caramel for my husband, chocolate for me). Of course there were only two lines open (despite a lot of people in each line - I hate when stores don't open up more lines!) and I got behind a couple that had a week's worth of groceries in their cart. The woman happened to look back at me and said, "oh, you should go in front of us since you only have a couple of things. Your hands will freeze if you hold that ice cream for too long!" How nice of her! I thanked her twice and moved ahead in line. I had forgotten my very important customer card, and asked the cashier if she could look it up by my phone number. The same couple behind me overheard me asking this of the cashier and offered their very important customer card to me so that I could use it. How nice again! I thanked them again, paid for my ice cream and left the store.

"Redemption" I thought to myself as I drove home. Of all the jerks in the world, all the selfish people I run into on a daily basis that make me cringe, groan, yell and shake my head, I had two very pleasant interactions today with complete strangers.

If only it was like this ALL the time. If people actually came out of their bubble and cared about their neighbor, the stranger at the grocery store, the driver next to them or their co-worker. What if people actually...gasp!...were not rude, but kind to one another? I think you'd find a lot more happy people in the world, and I think you'd find a much better world altogether. The daily routine of life just might not be so bad. And you wouldn't find me uttering the phrase, "I hate people" at all. Forget going green - I know how you can change the world: be nice to one another.