Ripples In A Motionless Pond

Today was a trip to the Brace shop in Pueblo to get my new leg brace fitted on me. Oh I do love the red brace. Makes me smile. I figure if I have to use one…jazz it. 🙂 If you live around the Pueblo area and must be fitted with a brace or orthotic, go to Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics located on 1213 N. Elizabeth. They are absolutely the most awesome and professional place I have ever been to. They took a cast of my leg to fit my brace perfectly. They fitted the brace to my leg after it came in and made sure all was adjusted like it should be. I did not get that kind of service where we lived before.

We also ran by Walmart for son to pick up medicine and some other stuff and I sat in the van. I did my favorite hobby…. I people watched. It is always interesting to me to watch people and look at vehicles and see how people act under different circumstances. You can learn a lot just by watching.

“Every day you have the opportunity to learn and experience some-thing and some-one new. Seize the opportunity. Learn and experience everything you can, and use it to change the world.” 

Rodney Williams

Now, I took this picture below. I told son that I started giggling because all I could envision was a hubby saying  “don’t worry hon. I fixed that loose windshield on the car”.  And I still get the giggles looking at it. In case you miss it…I am talking about the two pieces of blue tape.

The parking lot was very active today. I saw people dressed in jeans, shorts, winter coats, dressed to the nines in suits, some walking slowly, couples walking like they were not together, some rushing, some looking happy and some looking mad.

One man came walking out and you could see the pleasure and happiness on his face. He was pushing a buggy with box in the buggy that was a car seat. This was one pleased man as he had bought a gift for a baby he knew and you could see it all over him in his walk and his face.

I saw one man unloading two buggies into the trunk of the car. A little old lady stood holding one buggy and a little boy about the age of five stood in the back of the other one. The man quietly unloaded the buggies and then lifted the boy down with a pat to his head and handed him his toy from the trunk. He did this with the ease of a man who loved the child and had done this many times. He then took the cart from the little old lady and helped her to the vehicle. So nice to see men acting like that and showing love to others around them.

Another couple came rushing by with a screaming child in the buggy seat. Both looked angry and neither one was even trying to comfort the child. In fact, if it were not for the fact that I saw them get out of the same car, I would have thought they did not know each other.

Then a woman came by pushing an elderly man in a wheelchair. She helped him into the van and gently helped him strap his seat belt on and then proceeded to unload the buggy she had pulled behind her. He asked her a question and she looked up with a smile and reached in and got a small bag from the stuff in the buggy and handed it to him. It always touches me to see people be so loving with each other.

Another couple came walking hand in hand, gazing in each other’s eyes and talking. At one point, he protectively put his arm up in front of her to catch a runaway buggy.  And she just leaned into him and smiled up at him.  When they turned, I could see she was expecting.

image from shadowlight-oak.deviantart.com

And then I heard a crash. Someone a few isles over had their buggy tip over. I wanted so badly to get out and go help them but I can’t walk that far even with the crutches. But, as I watched, I noticed people stopping at the sound and looking at that direction. And then….some laughed and walked on. Others just shook their head and walked on. I know my mouth dropped open in utter amazement. No one went to help this person. NO ONE!.  I could not believe it. Have we as a society become so self-absorbed that we can not stop and help someone?  When I told son, he said…Mama..next time, call me and I will come out of the store. Son and I have always stopped to help people and because of that, I believe the Creator has continued to put angels in our paths too…to help us.

image from daily-inspiration-quotes.com

Today, I watched people from all nationalities walking through the parking lot and we are all connected just by the fact we are humans….and yet everyone seemed to be sealed off. This invisible seal around them as if to say don’t bother me. One of the things I miss from the south is the way people are. If I was getting out of the van, people would stop and ask son and I if I needed help. If we had a flat or car trouble…someone would stop and help us and people speak to each other.  The pain, the hurts, the grief, the fears….all are palpable in our Nation today.  And it is sad because it makes our nation splinter. And yet one loving thing can create other loving incidents.  I watched as son helped a little old man put his groceries in his trunk. And the man just smiled and thanked him. And then the man turned to push his cart to the cart slot and saw a woman with a baby trying to get hers there and he smiled and said…let me help you. She didn’t want to leave her baby.  All it takes is one act of kindness, to start a ripple.

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