Just a few extra steps

Last week I had a revelation after a quick visit to the local Costco. For those of you who frequent big box stores like Costco, B.J.'s and Sam's Club, you know there is no such thing as a quick visit. It was one of those grocery trips where you run in for two things but somehow spend $115. It happens every time a grab a cart... but I digress. That was not my revelation. As I pushed my grocery cart to the car I noticed rogue grocery carts strewn throughout the parking lot sans an owner. It looked like the gates to the corral opened and the freed horses were milling around the asphalt plains.

While there were plenty of cart corrals in the parking lot, apparently they weren't close enough. As I silently fumed, the older gentleman that got out of the car next to me remarked, "people are so lazy". As he said this, the approximately 70+ man began to gather the cars in the vicinity and push them towards the closest corral. While I was so proud that I put "my" cart back,I realized that I walked by at least five rogue carts on my way to the corral. When I started writing this blog post it was going to be about how sometimes we get lazy and inconsiderate, like dumping your cart in the lot. When you take a cart there is an implied contract that you will return it to it's proper home (common courtesy). My thought was that if we can't take care of the small agreements in our lives, how are we going to handle the big ones!

What I realized, as I began writing, was that my "AH HA" wasn't about the others being lazy, it was about how I responded. In my haste to be the better person, I walked by six carts that I could have taken just as easily to the corral. Now I realize that I was no better than the folks who abandon their carts throughout the day. How many of us do this? What does that say about how we treat people? Do we walk out of church and pretend we don't see the homeless person asking for help? Do we throw our trash in the bin then walk by trash on the ground. Are we so caught up in judging others that we fail to see how we can grow? Should we pay more attention to how we can help? I don't know what the answer is, but I think that my test started with those carts and I failed. Next time I won't.