this world is for the takers

this morning after dropping lexi off for grooming, nash and i headed to wal-mart to pick up some much-needed grocery stock. nash has been having a rough week from his sickness and apparent possession by some evil spirit. yesterday he literally cried (if you know his cries i'll specify: his squawking cry {the most annoying one that gets under your skin}) all day. he took a twenty minute break to sip his jamba juice and it was the only smile i saw all day. never have i been so excited to go to work! anyway, it was a rough few nights and days with little sleep. back to wal-mart. so we fill our cart and head to the check-out. have you seen that new wal-mart commercial about their new initiative to have more open lanes so you can spend time with your family (it's super cheesy)? well, it's not true. at least not at the 1300 S walmart in slc. there was one-ONE!-regular lane open and three speedy check-out lanes. when you have a grocery cart full to the brim the speedy check-out just doesn't cut it. so i got in the regular line behind a lady with three-THREE!-full shopping carts. a few people in the same situation as i was got in line behind me, grumbling. i smiled and told them the checker was going surprisingly fast (i.e. i was nice and tried to diffuse the situation since the wal-mart employees were making no such effort).

finally, the three CSM's standing in the back gossiping took note of the situation and opened another lane. now, i'm the kind of person that actually waits 8 feet back from the customer in front of me at the pharmacy (like the sign about HIPPA privacy laws says to do). i'm the kind of person that waits at the bank until asked to approach the counter. i'm the kind of person that waits for the cashier opening her lane to turn on her light or othewise announce her readiness to take the next shopper. but the ladies behind me? ooooh, no. as i tried to maneuver my cart around the lady in front of me (remember she had three carts?), the lady behind me shoved-and i mean SHOVED/RACED/JOLTED-to the register. the lady behind her did the same. i gasped and told nash "there are a lot of rude people in the world, nashy-boy. we're not like them." and began to cry as i watched the lady who blazed past me hurrying to shove all her groceries on the conveyor belt as if in a panic. so there i was standing in line at wal-mart crying my eyes out. the worst part was that i really don't think those ladies had any notion of how rude and hurtful they were.

sometimes i wish i was naive and ignorant and could just breeze through life without a care for anyone. fortunately my parents raised to me think of others and i think i do a pretty good job of that. i have my volatile moments where i am so blown away by people's actions that i lash out (which usually involves low blows about an overweight body or lack of teeth), but most of the time i keep my cool and move on, each time vowing to be more considerate so that i never make another person feel the way i just had to feel. this world is for the takers, but i'm proud to say that i'm not one of them. i'm much more of a giver.