NO. 1124 -- A DOSE OF REALITY!

No. 1124

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

A DOSE OF REALITY!

A while back I witnessed something that made me so grateful for being in good health, having a sound body and being able to walk and move about so freely. To be sure, what I saw or witnessed that day gave me a good dose of reality, as there are many in our midst who do not have these blessings.
Janis and I were on our way home one evening and we stopped at one of our fine grocery stores for her to run in and pick up something special for dinner. While waiting on her I pulled up close to the door so she would not have to walk far when she came back to the car.
After sitting there waiting for her for several minutes, I saw a young man in a wheelchair pushing a grocery cart that contained several sacks. He wheeled it across the parking lot to his car and proceeded to open the trunk. Then one by one he took each of the sacks and placed them in the trunk of his car and closed the lid. Instead of leaving the cart nearby, as I frequently do, he proceeded to push the cart, in front of his wheelchair, all the way across the driveway to the cart rack where he left it. Then he proceeded to roll his wheelchair back to his car.
At this point, and mind you he was all alone, I wondered how he was going to get in his car. He stopped at the back door on the driver’s side, opened it, and then crawled in the back seat. He then reached out to disassemble his wheelchair, part by part, and pulled each one into the car with him. After this was accomplished, he closed the door and crawled between the seats from the back to the front of the car, got behind the wheel, started the engine and drove away.
The thought then occurred to me: where will he go and what kind of circumstances will he encounter when he gets to his home? Will there be someone there to greet and help him unload the groceries that I had just seen him place inside his car from his shopping trip? Quite naturally my mind just raced with the possibilities and him having to place items in his refrigerator, and in the shelves that were beyond his reach. I don’t have the answers to my questions, but nevertheless it was some very sober thinking I did that day and have done since then.
The one thing in my memory that stood out that day is this young man seemed to have a positive outlook on life, reflected in the way he took the grocery cart all the way back across the parking lot to the rack and the way he moved, with a quick pace, especially inside his car. As I said earlier, this encounter sure gave me a good dose of reality. Incidentally, the word “reality” means “The fact, state, or quality of being real or genuine.” If there is one thing in this life that I truly want to be, that is to be real and genuine. I don’t ever want to come across as arrogant or conceited or give the air that I am better than anyone else. As I often tell people who try to give me more credit than I deserve, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”
Hopefully, you will take what I have shared and ponder it a few minutes as well. Unless you are worse off physically than the young man I have been telling you about, be grateful for what you have. The truth is most of us have far more potential than we are using, and the greatest happiness we will ever experience comes when we are busy doing something good for other people.
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(Editor’s Note: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)