Quite A Sight

People and things are so easily judged just by their appearance and actions. I admit I'm easily at fault myself with this.

Picture this:

You're driving down the road and this is the sight that you behold.
A young woman wearing shorts and a ragged T-shirt with sandals is walking with her two young children down a road during the heat of the day. They all look a bit dirty and you might think they were hungry, yet they are snacking on what appears to be an ice cream sandwich, probably the only treat the kids have had all week. The woman looks tired with her hands full; carrying a gallon of milk, 2 loaves of bread and a case of Dr. Pepper. One would imagine that these essential items are all she can afford to feed her family for the week. You might feel sorry for her and maybe want to give her and her children a lift as your driving down the road in you Lexus.

What if I also told you that she paid for her items with winning scratch off tickets; only to then have to pay for the remaining $3.00 she owed in quarters?
One would probably feel bad for her and have thoughts that maybe her car was broke down and she is with out a job and that those quarters were all she could scrape together to feed her family. Of course one would really judge as to why she would splurge on that Dr. Pepper instead of buying eggs or something else more nutritional. Then one might also think that she should have spent her good money on food for her children, instead of wasting it on a cheap win from the scratch offs.

You might scoff or sigh and think this woman should get it together for her kids sake. She really needs to re think her priorities.

Appearances can be quite deceiving.

This woman walking down the street was of course me and my two youngest boys. I just happened to have gotten off work, and the day just happened to cool down enough for a leisure walk to the convenience store. The store is barely 3 blocks away. The boys had been cooped up all day and needed some fresh air. I just happened to have some lottery tickets that needed to be cashed in, and I just happened to have a bunch of change in my purse I wanted to get rid of. I didn't feel like heading to the giant grocery store to grocery shop and just wanted to get the basic necessities to get us through the week. Dr. Pepper is of course high priority.

I got to thinking about this scenario on our way home and what a sight we must have been. I almost thought that the elderly gentleman we were talking to was this close to offering us a ride, when he started to get into his car and watched us walk off down the street toward home. He probably would have offered, but didn't want to get melted ice cream on his leather seats.