Gotta post about this while it's fresh. Simple, commonplace event that reflects a larger truth.

OK, 11:30 PM, Friday night. I'm at the grocery store getting Ben and Jerry's for me and the wife. (I wish I could say it was all Seren's fault, but she only mentioned B&J, I then pushed her into it.) (Also, I should note that when I was 15, my sweet tooth was knocked out in a bicycle accident... Unfortunately, it was replaced with a bionic sweet tooth.)

Anyway, I walk in. It's late and there is only one checkout person. Fair enough. I note that the person currently being rung up only has a few items, but the woman next in line has a *full* cart. UGH. Now, I'm not shy about asking if I can jump ahead of a person with a very large number of items if I only have 2 or 3. However, I knew that I would not be able to run back to the frozen section, make my selection, and be back before that woman's items started to be rung up. C'est la vie. So, I proceed to collect my 2 cartons of "the good stuff" and return to the check-out aisle. Sure enough, that LCW (large-cart-woman) is in the early stages of ringing up. Meanwhile, a woman with 3-4 items is standing behind her. Let us refer to her as 3IG (3 item girl, although to be fair, she was probably as old as I am). So, I'm behind LCW and 3IG in line. While LCW is being rung up, 2 more people with no more than 6 items get in line behind me. Then LCW2 arrives. This woman is the subject of our post today. She also had a *full* cart of food. Well, with the vertible calvacade of customers, the checkout woman does what any sensible person would do; She called for help. A scant few minutes later, Ed arrives and opens the checkout lane 3 lanes down. As soon as I hone in on which aisle he is opening, I suggest to 3IG that she move over to it. It would probably have been reasonable to take the pole positon myself, but that wouldn't be fair. Anyway, I knew the checkout woman in the aisle that I was in. She is about as professional a checkout person as you are like to find working late shift in a suburban grocery store, and I was confident that she would wrap up the order quickly.

Anyway, 3IG makes her way over to the newly opened aisle, but LCW2 is quicker. She lurches afore mentioned large cart, cuts off 3IG, and is waiting in front of "Ed" the instance he flips on the light for Checkout Lane 7. The person directly behind me mutters, "Unbeleivable". Whcih suprised me. Only because all three people behind me in line were asian, and I was under the impression that they were all somehow related. This did not turn out to be the case.

Luckily for 3IG, LCW2 seems to be married to a man who is accustomed to living in a civilized society and points out that 3IG, and her 3-4 items should probably go first. This invitation did not extend, however, to the 3 other people who stood there, small number of items in hand. As I said before, C'est la vie.

So, that bigger truth I mentioned before. This did not spring, I think, from a Me First mentality. I think this was simply Me Only. Perhaps it's the optimist in me, but I don't think LCW2 wanted to exclude or jump ahead of anyone. She just wanted to get her things done as quickly as possible. But the source of this attitude is the same; "The world isn't go to look out for me, so it's up to me to do it". The world... actually, it's more appropriate to say the people in the world... teaches each and every one of us that we need to take care of outselves, and concern for others is far too rarely rewarded. This isn't right, but I don't have an answer. Well, other than God. But He's such an easy answer that it feels like cheating to always say "Well... God." But for this, that's all I have.