Greetings!
Recently I watched a video on YouTube about a young couple. The wife was an American and the husband was a Japanese. In the video, they talked about the small conflicts in their marriage due to their cultural and personality differences. For instance, the wife saw someone cut in line. She wanted to have a talk with that person. The husband thought it did not matter that one person had cut in line, and asked his wife to let it go. It reminded me of what happened the past Easter Sunday.
In the morning of Easter Sunday, we went to watch our grandchildren egg hunt in their backyard. It was always a joy to see the excitement on their faces.
In the afternoon, my husband and I went to a Middle Eastern grocery store.
This store opened three years ago. We went there quite often because it had a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Most of its customers were from the Middle East. They talked to each other in Middle Eastern languages. Though I did not know their languages, I could sense their joy of coming to a market where they felt very much at home.
After we finished shopping, my husband, as he usually did, chose a checkout lane that had the least customers. When I joined him in line, I was glad to see the cashier at this checkout lane was the woman that treated every customer with patience, kindness, and respect. She was a Middle Eastern woman in her 40 s. She wore a headscarf, and always had a gentle smile on her face.
Soon we were third in line. An elderly Middle Eastern woman was before us. A couple that lined up in another checkout lane talked to her. Then they moved their shopping cart next to the elderly woman's cart. It was obvious they wanted to cut in because their checkout lane had not moved along as smooth as ours. Seeing no one had lined up behind us, I asked my husband to move back our shopping cart a little so that the couple could step into the line.
As this went on, the energy around my head vibrated. I looked back to my left. A tall Middle Eastern man at the end of a checkout lane had watched what happened. He pointed at the couple and swayed his head to show his disapproval of their cutting in line. In a soft voice, he said, "I am sorry." I smiled and said, "It is okay. We are not in a hurry."
Suddenly, the man rushed to a checkout lane that had just opened. He signaled for us to go ahead of him. We thanked him and told him to go ahead for we were now second in line (i.e. behind the couple).
The cashier and I greeted one another with a smile. I decided to tell her how much I appreciated her way of treating everybody. She let out a beautiful smile. She said to my husband, "You have a wonderful wife!" She wished us a happy Easter.
On our way out of the store, I nodded at the tall man who had treated us with kindness. He waved at us and wished us a happy Easter. Joyfully, I said, "You too!"
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On quite a few occasions, people had asked us to go ahead of them when they saw that we had only bought a few items while their shopping carts were full of groceries. Sometimes we did move ahead; at other times, we thanked them and told them we had plenty of time. At the end, they (or we) always looked back at one another with good wishes. We had also let other people go ahead of us when we observed they were in a hurry to leave the store. On a couple of occasions, I had also stood my ground when someone intentionally and rudely cut before me. I was not afraid to stand up when I felt it was something I should do. Occasionally, we all needed someone to speak the truth and learn from it. (Re A talk with a store manager and I was happy to stay in my comfort zone )
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April is almost over. The weather has been nice. In the late afternoon, I often go for a walk by the school. Looking at the new leaves on the trees, I feel renewed too.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Many blessings,
Q of D
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