This I Believe

Years ago, as a young man, I had a good job and a family who loved me and close friends and a new car. I worked for a large, discount pharmacy and made better money than some of my older friends. But it wasn’t enough. I remember being angry one day because I couldn’t lose those few pounds I wanted to and mad that my clothes just weren’t the lastest fashion.

The pharmacy I worked at was very popular with the elderly clients and had long waits because of the high volume, and I had little patience for those that couldn’t wait the 30 or 40 minutes it took to complete their sale.

One day, Mrs. O’Brien came to the window. I took her information and told her that it would be 30 minutes at least. She smiled back at me and said, “It’s alright, I’ll just sit here and wait.” As she turned away from my window I could see that she was bent over from osteoporosis and used a cane. She had told me that she lived alone with her husband who very ill and that she had walked to the pharmacy. It dawned on me that this elderly, sweet woman, who walked half a mile with her cane, her back bent and crippled, who alone cared for her husband and who didn’t complain or fuss about the wait, had so many things to be upset and frustrated and angry about and, yet, she was pleasant and kind and understanding.

Suddenly my shallowness and lack of empathy hit home and I remember being very humbled and feeling empty. I never saw that woman again that I can remember but that moment of time is frozen in my memory and I have NEVER forgotten that lesson I learned.

I believe that if every human being stopped and looked around and felt what others are suffering, the world would be a very different place.