Yesterday I wrote about the old hunchbacked man I saw walking past my house with a heavy load of groceries. Today I want to share one other part of our brief encounter.
As I stood at his front door and handed him the groceries, I invited him to call on me for anything whenever he passed in front of my house. I didn’t expect his humorous response: “I could use a round-trip ticket to Paris.”
We both laughed. I said, “Couldn’t we all!” Then I went back home smiling at the exchange.
Here was an elderly man with obvious physical problems, no transportation except his feet that turned inward, so far humped over that his natural stance was looking straight down at his feet, with difficulty getting home the 5-6 bags of groceries he picked up at a CVS pharmacy. He apparently has nobody to help, yet he did what it took to get from point A to point B, and at the end of it all he showed a sense of humor.
He has every reason to be sour on the world, bitter over his circumstances, down about the difficulties he faces in just getting by every day. But he isn’t.
Thank you, dear old man, whoever you are, for teaching me leap year lesson #284 – It’s about attitude, not circumstances.
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