Miracle on Aisle 10

It was a busy morning at Walmart. Christmas is coming and old people are shopping, a week before Christmas.  I am busily dragging my rattling old bones up and down the grocery aisle looking for candied pineapple for Miss Sheila's take on my Honeymama's fruitcake. I have described my grandmother's fruitcake in detail and posted the recipe.

Honeymom's fruitcake is unique in that it doesn't use citron, that pungent, sharp tasting heaven only knows what kind of fruit it originally was. It's a mild, gently flavored, dense fruitcake and every time Sheila makes one for someone, she has to add another fruitcake to the annual batch. Her brother-in-law told her he'd buy the ingredients if she'd make him a fruitcake for his birthday.One thing it does use is candied pineapple. Now I had ordered all the ingredients well ahead of time through Amazon.com.  But I was short on the pineapple, so I tried to find some at Walmart.

To my horror there was nothing on the shelves at Walmart in the way of fruitcake ingredients. I tried two Walmart employees and they couldn't help either. Finally, I tracked down a manager who told me that this particular Walmart had stopped carrying fruitcake fruit because it didn't sell well enough. "But," she said, following me out of the checkout line where she was running a register like the managers often do when it gets busy, "I'm really not supposed to do this, but try down at WinCo. They carry everything."  She looked around then whispered conspiratorially, "I shop down there a lot myself."

It was like Macy's Santa recommending a customer go shop at Gimbel's in the old movie "Miracle on 34th Street".   I've been a great defender of Walmart in the past because they do make my life easier and more affordable. I do, however, recognize the limitations of a big box store like Wally World and in those limitations lies opportunity for local mom and pop stores to fill in the gaps. They have lower overhead and with a little advertising they can make themselves available to customers by stocking things Walmart doesn't.

I was glad to see a Walmart manager willing to violate company policy to help a customer. Restored my faith in Walmart. They don't do everything, but if you're smart you can figure out how to best use Walmart to your advantage and there really are some lovely people who work there.

© 2019 by Tom King

 

Appreciation

I had an unusual experience today. It's been a terrible week. Our beloved dog, Daisy, passed away on my birthday. Sheila and I have been grieving pretty hard over it for more than a week now. Our beloved son, Matthew, received terrible news about his situation a few days later. We are both of us emotionally exhausted.

So, today, we had to take Sheila to see the doctor in Tacoma. We were sitting in the pharmacy afterwards and a lovely older woman came up and started a conversation with us. The lady, it turned out, was a grant-writer and nonprofit veteran like me.  She and I got to exchanging war stories about life in the nonprofit sector and our struggles to do a little good in the world. Apparently she'd gone up against the bureaucrat machine like I had and we evidently shared much the same history being forced to fight for the folks we served.

A short while later an elderly black man who had apparently been listening to us talk came up to me. He held out his hand and thanked me for what I'd done. I shook his hand, kind of puzzled and thanked him for his kindness. He said not many "people" would do what I had done. I think he meant not many white Anglo-Saxon Protestant Men. I'm not sure. He seemed shocked to find somebody "like me" who actually cared about seniors, people with disabilities, abused kids and low income families enough to give 40 years of his life to trying to help.

I didn't have the heart to tell him or the lady we were talking to that I was a conservative. As with most of the motley collection of assorted liberals I've had the privilege of working with over the years, the idea that I'm a conservative never quite seems to sink in with these guys. It's just too far outside their paradigm to register.

I did tell him I was a Christian. I told the gentleman that when you give your heart to God and promise Him that you will go where He leads you, there's not much else you can do other than go where He sends you. It doesn't make us better people because we sacrifice a little effort to do what's right and needful. We're better people; just people who have been made better. It comes from hanging out with Jesus all this time.  He rubs off on you. You can't really help following his example. And Sheila, my sweet wife, has been with me every step of the way. She's never let me down in all the long years we've been together and she leaves behind her a lifetime's work of her own, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and lifting up the down-trodden and weary. I am blessed that she is my partner in life.


People who try to make a difference don't hear a lot of thank-you's from the folk they work for and with. You'd think they'd be showered with accolades, but beyond a few quick thank you's on the way out the door the accolades generally go to the people that donate hard cash to the cause. Two things nonprofits and hard-working volunteers don't get a lot of is (a) profits and (b) thank-you's. Fortunately, people like me and Larry, my grateful black friend, Sheila and the grant-writing lady we met at the pharmacy don't do what we do for recognition or for profit.

It was nice to hear a spontaneous "Thanks," though. There are a lot of people out there working quietly and tirelessly to help solve problems in their communities. It's tough work, but as somebody once said, "Somebody's gotta do it." I became a conservative because in my experience working with the system, I found that big bureaucracies that run the system can be cold, cruel and self-centered. I saw very quickly that church-based ministries and community-based nonprofits are far more efficient at solvingproblems where you live instead of depending on people thousands of miles away in Washington to somehow guess how to fix your problems for you.

It never works out well that way.

It was nice to hear a little thanks though. The Apostle Paul once said, "All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose." He was also beheaded by the emperor of Rome. Like Paul, you may be trying to do the right thing by your friends, your family and your community, but most times it feels like you're not doing any good or getting anywhere even if you are trying to do the right thing. The good old boy networks are entrenched. The politicians are too powerful. The system is resistant to change. And most of the time it seems like the bad guys win.

That's the sinful world we live in. All that's decent seems to be opposed by greed, corruption and lust for power. Because of Christ's influence on us all, however, the world is also filled with lots and lots of people working as hard as they can to make the world a better place.  You may not see them very often, but they're there working along quietly unnoticed for the most part. The Scribes and the Pharisees, the criminals, the crooked politicians, and the crony capitalists hate people like that. Jesus said they would and He was right.

Do me a favor though. Even though every where you turn there are rotters, cads, bounders and more than a few monsters, once in a while, if you catch someone doing something good, stop and say thank-you. Those who resist the dark side and who toil away valiantly, mostly out of sight, trying to make things a little better in their towns, communities and neighborhoods probably feel a little alone. It would be nice if you would take the time to stop and say, "Thanks." I can tell you from personal experience, that it makes you feel like you're actually doing some good out there.

It's particularly nice to hear, once in a while, that someone notices and appreciates the effort.

© 2016 by Tom King