I was at the checkout line.  It was a lady buying things with her food stamp card and then separate thing with cask.  Between her and I, was a big burly guy.

This was before work, and I was in a hurry.  So I was thinking bad thoughts about this woman ahead of me.  When she came up short on cash, I thought, okay, here we go.  That guy is going to give her hell. I relished the thought.

Instead he held out the two dollars and said, I got it. Don’t worry about it.

For two dollars, that guy got two feel a hundred dollars with of good.  The woman was appreciative. I got to see kindness.

Kindness is powerful.

Kindness can transform. Yes, it can be taken advantage of, but it makes me think of poverty in the United States. How our country can provide support and help out the disadvantaged minority (inner city blacks).

We see problems and blame welfare.  Perhaps, though it is not the welfare. Getting something for free, is not creating problems. Perhaps it is our duplicitous nature.  Half of us, want to provide assistance and some of us then judge.  We call people lazy and bad.

I simply think it possible that our judging is causing the problems.  What do people of color hear them labeled and called. Perhaps that is what they are reacting to. That’s the problem in my opinion.  We give with one hand and slap faces with the other. How would you react.  Thankful for the assistance or angry and hurt from the other.

Kindness is powerful.  It could transform our country. Put safeguards in assistance, require effort on the recipients, and reward people for getting past it. But also quiet the judging and the anger.

Photo by Tom Parsons on Unsplash