A Heart of Peace

Our daughter, Katie, and I teach a group of middle school students at a local public school every other Friday.  It is part of the Student Advancement Leadership Initiative (SALI) sponsored by LINC North Texas.  We teach values and leadership skills to over a hundred 7th and 8th graders.  Yesterday our lesson was on the need to not treat other people as objects.  The theme was having a heart of peace, rather than a heart of war when it comes to how we relate to others.

It started me thinking about way I treat the random people I have contact with on a daily basis.  It might be the cashier in the grocery store or the person taking my order at the fast-food restaurant; they deserve to be treated with respect.  I guess that is why I like it when employees where name tags.  It allows me to address them as a person, rather than a nameless face.  "How is your day going Angie."   Thanks for taking my order Jose."  A smile and friendly comment might make a difference in their life.

I am glad I had that lesson yesterday, because I had to put it to use in damage control today.  I had to make a Home Depot run.  I had a couple of project that I needed to tend to and they also had bags of mulch and tomato plants on sale.  My cart was full, but the woman ahead of me was pushing an empty cart.  She had discovered the same thing I had; the store had sold out of tomato plants.  When she got up to the clerk she pointed to her empty cart and said, "I came for the tomato plants.  What a waste of time.  How can you run out of tomato plants?'  She continued her tirade as she waved the newspaper ad advertising the weekend sale.  The clerk was a young Hispanic girl.  She stood speechless as the abuse continued.  The girl did not deserve that.  She had nothing to do with ordering the plants.  She was just an object to this angry woman who very much had a "heart of war."

In this case I was able to reassure Maria, the young clerk.  "You did not deserve that," I told her.  "Some people can be cruel," I continued.  She smiled as she unloaded my cart and scanned the items.  "I hope the rest of your day goes better, Maria.," I told her as she handed me my receipt.  Lesson learned.  I can always go back for the tomato plants later.