"Life Lessons"

A few days ago I was eating a bowl of chili in my favorite fast food restaurant when a woman with two children came in and sat down in the booth across from me. She was probably in her late twenties or early thirties and the children were sixteen to eighteen months and seven or eight years old. The younger child was a little boy and the older was a girl.

The mother was carrying the little boy so the little girl had the food on a tray. After they got the little boy settled the mother gave the little girl some money and told her to go back up to the counter and get some chicken strips and fries. The little girl did as her mother told her and was soon back with the food.

When she handed her mother the change the mother counted it and then said the cashier had given her a dollar too much. She told the little girl to take it back to the cashier and explain she had given her too much change. The little girl's response was, "Can't I have it?"

"No," said the mother. "It is not ours. She just gave you a dollar too much in change. We need to give it back to her."

Again the little girl asked, "Can't I keep it? She gave it to me. Please, mama, please."

"We can't keep something that is not ours. When that girl checks up tonight she will be short a dollar and that might get her in trouble," the mother explained. "Besides even when somebody makes a mistake that gives us something good we can't keep it. That wouldn't be right and you always want to do what is right."

With this the little girl gave up and took the dollar to the cashier. I could see the little girl explaining it to the cashier from where I sat. The cashier looked stunned but she accepted the dollar. The little girl came back smiling, feeling good because she had done the right thing.

You know it really did my heart good to witness this "life lesson" being taught. In this age where bad manners and bad behavior seem at times to be glorified, it is nice to witness a parent telling their child to do the right thing. Admittedly it is only one parent but as the old saying goes, "one step at a time."

You know we can all learn a lesson from this incident. I don't know if I would have been as quick to give back the dollar. I hope I would, but I can't say for certain that I would have. But the next time I get too much change back you can be sure I will think of this little girl and I will try to do the right thing.

In the Bible it states that "a little child will lead them." In this case it was oh so true. A lesson in life from an eight-year-old and her mother - life lessons are all around us.

And on a personal note, thanks to all of you who sent me e-mails after I wrote about my granddaughter having a tonsillectomy. She is doing fine, and I am much relieved. But throughout the ordeal "the kindness of strangers" helped me have courage.

 

 

 

 

 

©2005 Jackie K. Cooper

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