Have you ever gotten a wrong-number phone call from a pharmacy saying your prescription is ready? Did you call them back and inform them that you don't have a prescription there, and they have the wrong number? Why?
How about when you got your photos back from the one-hour-photo place; have you ever gotten someone else's by mistake? Even if you had all of yours, did you go back and tell the people at the photo shop? Did you try and find the person and inform them that you had their photos and were giving them to the photo place until they can come pick them up? Did that person call you back and thank you? That took effort, why'd ya'll do it?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, might it be because you know that whatever you had really meant something to somebody?
See, like all ya'll rednecks already know, we were raised to know right from wrong, and to always do the right thing. Sometimes we slip and do some evil, but when it comes to hurting someone we don't know just by being lazy, we can't really live with ourselves until we set things right. The "well, the other person might be an asshole and deserve it" theory doesn't really hold water. When you do the right thing, you'll meet good people.
Recently, I accidentally received an envelope of another lady's photos when I went to get my latest batch developed. Rather than ignore them, or do the easy thing and throw them away like she expected whoever had them would do, I made a point of returning them to Costco's photodesk and calling her and letting her know that I had gotten the photos and returned them to the photodesk. She was so glad she called and thanked me profusely, but that's not the point. The point is, she had photos of her son she thought she'd never see again, and my conscience is no longer nagging me, "Hurry up, don't just ignore them, they mean something to someone. That's what you'd want."
Turns out she is a very nice lady, and didn't think modern big-city people would help her. Apparently, though, she has lost jewelry at that same Costco before, and it was returned to the lost and found promptly. Who'd have thunk? We rednecks do like to look out for each other.
Do a good deed, accept a good deed, pay it forward.
Friday, April 25, 2008
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