I’m not a very religious person! Well, actually I’m not religious at all! I don’t like the current pope, I didn’t like the old one and very likely I won’t like the next one. Big changes would need to happen. But of course that won’t happen either … cause it would mean that then the Catholic church would lose lots of influence and money. Just imagine if priests were allowed to marry … had kids officially … an unthinkable concept.
But then, something happened to me. Don’t expect a life shattering experience now. I was not abducted by aliens! The Holy Mary didn’t appear before my very eyes, nor did Jesus or any other biblical person – who I certainly wouldn’t even recognize! And I certainly wasn’t caught by a sect like a fly in a spider’s web!
No, I was shopping. Okay, some of you might cry out loud now and say, “Shopping! That’s my religion too! I’m not alone! Thanks God, I’m not alone!”
(Just let me tell you, shopping loving girls, I love shopping as much as every single one of you, but that’s not what my life shattering experience is about!) Where was I? Yeah, right! I was shopping! At a big department store. Looking for expensive cosmetics cause I just had to had my favourite Chanel face cream. (I will let you guess how much I had to fork over for a small pot of it! It’s too embarrassing to even mention, since it certainly can’t be much better than a cheap version from the drugstore! Darn, I seem to get distracted today all the time, writing what I don’t want to write, straying from the topic I actually want to write about!)
So, I was shopping! When suddenly – here it comes – the walking stick of an elderly African American lady crashed to the floor in front of me. Having been brought up well by my parents I automatically bent down and picked it up to hand it back to her. And then she said the words I’d have never expected to hear in my lifetime as the non-religious person I am, “God bless you!”
God bless you! I expected a simple “Thank you!” and got a “God bless you!”
These three little words caressed my soul, as incredible as this might seem, my heart went out to that strange woman and I had the immediate urge to start talking to her. Pausing for a few precious minutes in our stressful world to spend some time with another person to maybe make her feel less lonely. Flabbergasted as I was, I just replied instead with a “You’re welcome!” and went my way to browse around for some more expensive cosmetics. But, and that’s what got me writing about it in the first place, I’m still thinking about it, although it happened quite a while ago. And I’m still cherishing this tiny moment, which just made me smile and feel happy. Doesn’t everyone deserve that?
ABOUT EVERYTHING AND NOTHING 