They say that age brings wisdom. There’s a reason that people have always made a habit of turning to grandparents and mentors when they need advice.
After all, age also has a way of clarifying things. You start to prioritize your life differently and realize that the trivial things aren’t important. You grow in confidence, and you learn not to take sass from anyone, as we saw with 98-year-old Evelyn when she ignores the naysayers and insists on getting her driver’s license.
Most importantly, you learn that life isn’t about money or power. It’s about making connections with your fellow human beings and leaving the world a little brighter in your wake.
It’s also about passing those lessons onto the next generation and helping them learn how to be better, wiser human beings in their own right.
Now, a story is making the rounds on the internet about an exceptional older lady who showed two young people exactly what it means to “pay it forward” and to offer kindness just because you can.
Scroll through the gallery below to read the words and impressions captured by Christina Turel, a young woman who encountered this force of nature while working at a bookstore.
[H/T: Love What Matters]
“I work in a decent sized, local, indie bookstore. It’s a great job 99 [percent] of the time, and a lot of our customers are pretty neat people.
Any[way], [in the] middle of the day, this little old lady comes up. She’s lovably kooky. She effuses how much she loves the store and how she wishes she could spend more time in it, but her husband is waiting in the car. 'OH! I BETTER BUY HIM SOME CHOCOLATE!' [she says.]
She piles a bunch of art supplies on the counter, and then stops and tells me how my bangs are beautiful and remind her of the ocean ('Wooooosh' she says, making a wave gesture with her hand.)"
“OK. I think to myself. Awesomely happy, weird little old ladies are my favorite kind of customer. They’re thrilled about everything, and they’re comfortably bananas. I can have a good time with this one. So we chat, and it’s nice.
Then, this kid, who’s been up my counter a few times to gather his school textbooks, comes up in line behind her (we’re connected to a major university in the city, so we have a lot of harried students pass through).
She turns around to him and, out of nowhere, demands that he put his textbooks on the counter. He’s confused, but she explains that she’s going to buy his textbooks.”
“He goes sheetrock white. He refuses and adamantly insists that she can’t do that. It’s like $400 worth of textbooks.
She, this tiny old woman, boldly takes them out of his hands, throws them on the counter and turns to me with an intense stare, and tells me to put them on her bill.
The kid at this point is practically in tears. He’s confused and shocked and grateful. Then, she turns to him and says, 'You need chocolate.' She starts grabbing handfuls of chocolates and putting them in her pile."
“He keeps asking her, ‘Why are you doing this?’ She responds, ‘Do you like Harry Potter?’ and throws a copy of the new [Harry Potter and the] Cursed Child on the pile, too.
Finally, she’s done, and I ring her up for a crazy amount of money. She pays and asks me to please give the kid a few bags for his stuff. While I’m bagging up her merchandise, the kid hugs her.
We’re both telling her how amazing she is and what an awesome thing she’s done. She turns to both of us and says probably one of the most profound, unscripted things I’ve ever had someone say:”
“‘It’s important to be kind. You can’t know all the times that you’ve hurt people in tiny, significant ways. It’s easy to be cruel without meaning to be. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can choose to be kind. Be kind.'”
“The kid thanks her again and leaves. I tell her again how awesome she is.
She’s staring out the door after him and says to me, 'My son is a homeless meth addict. I don’t know what I did.
I see that boy, and I see the man my son could have been if someone had chosen to be kind to him at just the right time.'"
“I’ve bagged up all her stuff, and at this point [I] am super awkward and feel like I should say something, but I don’t know what. Then, she turns to me and says, ‘I wish I could have bangs like that, but my darn hair is just too curly.’ And leaves. And that is the story of the best customer I’ve ever had. Be kind to somebody today.”
Did this story touch your heart? Don’t forget to SHARE these sweet words of wisdom with someone you love!
