Monday, November 25, 2013

day 129 : save a snowman {and that time i was really mad at a stranger}

happy monday, everybody!
can you believe its the last weekend of november?! then its december. and then 2014! i cant believe how fast the second half of the year flew by!

this weekend, i received a custom order for a winter hat {did you know that i knit?}, so i made a quick run to the yarn store. usually, i purchase my yarn at a small local shop, but that didn't work out this time.
anyways, we went to jo anns and it was PACKED!

as we were getting ready to checkout, i watched a woman {there with her husband & two kids} get her purse strap caught on an ornament display. one of the ornaments fell and shattered on the ground. the entire family watched it happen. the lady actually walked over & KICKED the broken pieces under the display and told her children that it wasn't her problem & she shouldn't have to pay for it. and then they all walked away!

you guys, i was SO mad! {i know ; obviously there are 'real' issues in the world that i should be using my energy on...} i was just so frustrated with this woman! she made an effort to hide the mess. her purse getting stuck was an accident ; but the consequence was that there were sharp pieces all over the floor. the cherry on top when the fact that she actually told her children that she wont pay for it or clean it up {i was standing a few feet away with my mouth hanging open, watching the entire thing} the whole incident was such an awful example that she set for her kids.

i feel like, a year ago, i probably would have confronted her. i would have tried to be calm ; but probably would have felt angry & gotten defensive. 
instead, i got down on my hands and knees & picked up all the broken pieces. i took it to the checkout counter & explained that a woman broke it & left it on the floor.

i think blake got annoyed with me because i was SO frustrated with this lady. i brought it up a few times throughout the night. it wasn't about breaking an ornament. it was an accident. those things happen. you put a million items in a store and then add thousands of customers {during the holidays, when people are sometimes grumpy & in a hurry} ; accidents will happen.
my issue was her gross attitude. this sense of privilege & entitlement. she broke something that someone made by hand {the fact that it was probably a young girl in china that received *pennies* for her work is another issue...}. she looked her children in the eyes & told them that she wouldn't pay for it, when i am assuming she has taught her kids that 'if you break it, you buy it.'

throughout this project, i have tried to have more empathy for strangers. i have tried to go out of my way to make the planet better with small acts. but, i am human. i have morals & values and can say that i was seriously offended by how flippant that stranger was when she broke something that didn't belong to her. so, while i feel like i completed a good deed by picking up the pieces on the floor, my thoughts & judgement of her were not very kind. 

tell us : 
has anything like this ever happened to you? i would love to hear your story // reaction // opinion!

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