Pay it Forward

Its tough out there. As the election campaign heats up, various trials go on and on, wars rage and get nastier, and the heat of the summer threatens to ravage the globe, at least in the northern hemisphere. I struggle to stay positive, find some good news or write uplifting essays. We’re all quite alike when you come down to it. We want the basics. Most when pushed probably wouldn’t want a multimillion dollar yacht or jet – the upkeep would crush you and you’d worry all the time. The simple life would be best, something we often forget with media blitzes going on all the time: but this, do that. Just saying.

I’ve made a couple of suggestions: perform acts of kindness, smile, pick up litter, once a week find one thing you can make better. Try thinking of others as your equals regardless of gender, color, religion, and – here’s a biggy – regardless of their politics. Chip away at hate and divisiveness whenever you can.

Last week I became aware of another one when I was picking up a prescription for my wife. She just had her cataracts removed and the drops were critical. They were out at the local chain store. The pharmacist found it at another one of their stores in a working class neighborhood three miles away. Same chain store, different layout, and different shoppers. More processed food in their carts. But I like shopping so walked through the aisles and found a new brand of tuna fish – fillets in olive oil. I couldn’t find a price on the jar, but thought how much could it cost for a six ounce jar? I’d ask at the checkout.

A middle aged woman was ahead of me at the checkout. She had a couple of birthday cakes, I joked she should invite me to the party – I’m a cookie monster. She laughed and answered in Spanish, which of course went over my head. I replied “Yo se, ‘me gusto cerveza, pero no freo, ne me gusto freo.’” I was close enough to: I know – I like beer, but not cold; I don’t like cold. I was close enough so that she laughed.

When they had run all her purchase through it appeared as if she was having trouble using her credit cards. For a moment I thought she was short a couple of dollars and I’d offer to pay the balance in cash. (We’re doing OK on pension and Social Security.) A moment later they had everything straightened out.

I remembered to ask them to price the jar of tuna. It was about $12, a bit too pricey for me especially since I didn’t even know if it was good. I asked them to put it back on the shelf. But the woman ahead was still putting her purchases in her cart and said she’d take it, or so I thought. Instead, they ran her card and, she stepped up to me and said it was for me. I was embarrassed and tried to give her at least $10 for it, or suggested she take the money and give it to charity, at her church or elsewhere. “No, no. It’s OK.”

I learned a valuable lesson. We are all recipients of little acts of kindness. We must learn to recognize them, they’re not all as obvious as my jar of tuna. And then most important we must remember to Pay It Forward to others.

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Ken was a Professor of Mathematics, a ceramicist, a welder, and an IBMer until downsized in 2000. He taught yoga until COVID-19 decided otherwise. He continues writing, living with his wife and beagle in Shorewood, Wisconsin. He enjoys chamber music and mysteries. He’s a homebrewer and runs whitewater rivers. Ken is a writer and his literary works can be found at https://www.kmkbooks.com/

He welcomes feedback on his articles and can be reached at havokjournal@havokmedia.com.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.

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