God loves those who love their neighbor as themselves and promotes that when we can do someone "a solid" we should. Often we miss the signs of someone needing assistance or we assume they don't want interference or we have to be somewhere sometime so we bogey stealthily away. Then there are times when if you can't hear the knocking on your soul you are just plain oblivious of possible black check marks in your permanent record and some hard questions on the final exam.
All of this is to set the scene for my own recent opportunity to balance the books in some small way. We made a quick stop at the ATM while eyeing another car coming rapidly from the wrong direction and figuring the odds of parking and hitting the ATM first. Noting the handicap license increased my odds but I did not want to look like I was racing frantically for the door to...well, beat the odds. No problem. I was in and out before the lady managed to exit her vehicle and hobble her walker to the sidewalk.
She drove a very nice car which however carried some evidential scarring from possible disagreements with perhaps a utility pole, other vehicle or unwary pedestrian. She painfully pulled her walker forward which sported the cut tennis balls that folks using the appliance favor when decorating the front feet. I of course stopped and held the door for her and her metal friend. She immediately started a conversation about how she never used these machines before and she desperately needed to get some money. This is when I noted an array of cards and money in her hand. I volunteered to help her with the machine and escorted her into the lobby.
She started spouting her pin number aloud (fortunately I was the only witness) as she handed me her bank card. I showed her my ATM card and asked if she had a similar one. Apparently not. Oh dear. Well I put in her card and tapped the odd numbers/letter code she gave me. To my surprise it worked! Then when I asked her how much money she wanted she said "oh no, I only want to change this $100." I then noted she had several similar bills. Another oh dear. I mentioned I might have enough 20's to make change if she would just hang on a moment. She tried to hand me the $100 bill immediately which I politely declined saying "let me see if I have the right change". Fortunately I did and we made the exchange. I asked if she needed any other assistance and she said no and blessed me.
Feeling good about the whole exchange I moved on. Karma was as swift as the next stop where the OH found not 1, not 2, but 3 pairs of shoes that actually fit! Now this is beyond incredible as he has a very difficult size. He keeps bowling and golf shoes 20 years or more as it is so hard to find a pair that fit.
Final stop was a furniture store where I found an interesting vase I did not know I wanted. As I went over to pay I remarked, "I don't know why the lady just didn't go to a store and buy something to get change". Uh Oh.... Examining her $100 bill I thought it looked funny. Oh dear.... Passing it under the pexi-glass barrier (today's pandemic world) I waited for the inevitable "where did you get this bill, or could you just wait over there a minute" while they called the police. Thankfully she passed a magic pen over it and determined it good and gave me change.
All of which makes me ponder. Sometimes we just have to trust blindly and take the lumps if an act of kindness backfires as a part of life. It is better to take the chance to build that integrity equity by doing the right thing regardless of the outcome.
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