Indifference, Humility, and The Art of Being Humble…
This will be yet another life lesson from my father, and the next chapter in my trying to spend my senior years showing Acts of Human Kindness.
It is a free country and if you don’t want to read my daily rant, just do to me what you and everyone else have done to Marvin…look the other way as if it wasn’t there.
You Never Ever Wanted to Be Asked to Meet Dad in His Office…
I was on the receiving end of many ‘Come to Jesus Meetings’ in dad’s office. It was not the plush executive office you might find with his degree of success. It was simply a large quiet place for him to look over the figures that would either put the previous month in the ‘red’ or ‘black’ as it were.
It was also the place where he would very tactfully chew your ass out and point out exactly why you were in his office and not down on the floor doing your job.
One particular morning when I had recently graduated high school, I was out on the floor stocking shelves and two or maybe three other employees happened to be on the same aisle working, and dad walks by.
“Would you just look at that, one hand grenade would kill them all!”
That was dad’s go-to comment whenever two or more of us happened to be gathered in the same area talking instead of working…regardless of how much work we had already done up to that point!
I remember my next statement or the answer to his comment vividly…
“Well, we are all gathered here today in this particular spot as we get ready for the hillbilly invasion after the mail runs!”
I was telling him that we were preparing for the third day of the month, which was, to get ready for the busiest day of the month…all of the social security and disability checks came out on the third of the month and since there was no direct deposit, those check recipients were at the mercy of the local mail service.
Smart answer I thought. Dad did not.
Dad’s response was to grab me by my collar with a firm-fisted grip and ‘tow’ me to his office where he threw me into a chair.
“Let me tell you something right now, and you better write this down somewhere. Those ‘hillbillies’ you are referring to might be a bit indifferent to what you think a person should look, act, or even smell like. And they are not in that position because they want to be…they have suffered some sort of loss that you and I will never be able to comprehend. They have reached an age where the only important thing to them is eating and they come to us to have a bit of purpose in their life. That man or woman walking through that door with a fist full of food stamps or a government check is just as important as that person working a regular job and trying to feed a family. They may even be more important because the money they spend with us is not like that man or woman with a paycheck, those people can lose those jobs and be left with nothing. So if working for me on the third of the month or any other day of the month bothers you because of the clientele, then this might not be the job for you! If you are okay working around people with less than you have, then get the hell out of my office and go prove that to me!”
I went back out on the floor, extremely humiliated and from that day forward I never looked at people with less than I have in any different light than that I might look at you with!
How Many Times Do You Look the Other Way?
In 2022 there are a lot more people in far worse conditions simply looking for an ACT OF HUMAN KINDNESS.
That is my platform now and since deciding to do this I have not traveled far to find people who need simple acts of kindness.
First, I want to thank my angel of a daughter Natileigh. If you live in the Jasper area and have an ATT phone or internet service you know her. She works for the ATT store across from the mom-and-pop store crushing giant WALMART.
She now posts my Medium stories on Facebook since I have been banned for life. Ain’t America great?
As I was saying, there are people right in my own backyard needing help. Hurting, humiliated and indifferent people are everywhere and Empire is no different.
Please, at least go to the Go Fund Me page for Simple Acts of Human Kindness and at least read the story. If you can’t spare a few dollars, I understand, this economy sucks…milk is $5 a gallon, and a 2lb bag of frozen Tyson Buffalo Wings was $18 at Walmart last weekend…I get it…but I know that simple acts are just that….simple amounts can add up and help make someone feel like somebody cares!
Will you help me care about somebody like Marvin? (the guy pictured above) He has a heart-wrenching story and maybe one day I can talk him into letting me tell it….he’s very humble….he takes it to an art form!
Tomorrow Will Be Different…How?
As I said, there are great needs right here in my backyard…and tomorrow if I can find the right words I will tell you that story and I will again ask you to simply show an ACT OF HUMAN KINDNESS.
