The other day, I needed to make a quick stop at the grocery store for just one item. In the car with me were the twins and my dad, who was in town to spend some time with us and his new grandson. Wanting to get in and out quickly, I looked for a spot close to the door, and as I was driving down one aisle, I saw an open spot on the row directly next to us.
I sped up a little, careful to avoid parking lot pedestrians, and turned the corner with no other cars coming to take away my gem of a parking spot. However, as I got closer to the space, I noticed something that was hard to see from other vantage points. The large, black Suburban parked next to this space was across the parking lines, and was essentially taking up two spaces, thus rendering this space useless, except for maybe a motorcycle. Seeing as I left my Harley in my imagination, I had to move on.
As I slowly made my way further down the aisle, I noticed another spot just a few spaces away from the now-defunct Suburban-blocked space where I had originally intended to park. I began my left veer to make the wide right cut into the space only to discover that not one or two, but three grocery carts were left in the middle of the space by shoppers, leaving this space as equally un-useable as the other one.
Eventually, I found a space just short of a quarter-mile away from the entrance to the store. As I walked in from the lot, I noticed that the grocery carts that foiled my secondary plans to park were less than twenty feet away from one of the pre-arranged drop-off spots that the good people of Kroger put out there in order to avoid such a dastardly inconvenience as had occurred to me. Is it that difficult to walk the additional ten to twelve steps to put your cart away and therefore OUT of the way of other customers?
As far as the Suburban driver goes, there was plenty of room to back up and straighten out. If he or she didn’t notice that they were well over the line, then they shouldn’t be driving that thing to begin with. (By the way—this particular suburban didn’t have the distinguishing stickers on the back that clearly marks the same vehicle that a good friend of mine drives. You’re in the clear, J.)
The truth is, all of the people who were responsible for the improper placement of vehicles and carts probably didn’t even care that their actions were inconvenient and inconsiderate to others. In fact, there are many times when they simple things we observe demonstrate a growing lack of consideration for anyone else. DC Talk had a song a few years ago with a line that sums it up: “This disease of self runs through my blood, it’s a cancer fatal to my soul.”
Selfishness combined with a general sense of apathy is slowly taking over our culture. It seems like it’s not enough sometimes, but the best way to try to overcome that disaster is to go completely opposite in our actions. We should go out of our way, even the additional twenty feet, to make sure that what we do and say keep the feelings and circumstances of others in mind. Even if no person or being is around us at the moment of grocery cart deposit, someone will eventually be around. The other shoppers who need parking spaces and the attendants who have to collect the stray carts will appreciate our actions, even if they never know the identity of the ones who were thoughtful to their plight. Let’s double-check our parking spaces to make sure that we have used ONLY the one that is marked for us, and have left adequate room on either side for the mother shopping with her baby, who must open the door to remove the infant carrier from her back seat, or the elderly man who isn’t quite handicapped, but needs a bit of extra room so he can gain his balance upon exiting his vehicle.
If we continue to think of these “unknown” faces, and can encourage others to do the same, I think we can make just one of hundreds of small differences that will collectively make a huge impact on the world around us. Go ahead and do your shopping—but be warned, you never know who will notice your thoughtless actions and blog about them.
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