A Helping Hand

I took my car in to the Ford dealer in Barstow today to be looked at. It was making a weird noise whenever I turned the fan on. Plus I needed an oil change. Since Chris had to work, it was up to me to deal with it. I had no idea how long I would be there, so I didn't want to put the kids in hourly care in case I wasn't back in time to pick them up. So...I had to take them with me. Surprisingly, they were fantastic.

During our wait at the shop something interesting happened with Aiden. We were sitting in the lobby, Aiden was playing with a bouncy ball, when the door opened and a woman walked in. She looked older, but it wasn't the years, it was the mileage. She was dirty, wearing ratty clothes and walked sort of hunched over, as if all of her troubles were literally weighing her down. She was obviously homeless. I wondered what she was doing in the dealership when an employee greeted her with a cheerful, "Hi Judy! How are you doing today?"

She gave a half smile and mumbled something in response. She wandered over to the coffee machine while a few other employees said hi to her. One mentioned that she had just stocked the coffee station, so Judy should have plenty of cream and sugar. I realized that this lady just came in for the coffee, and a place to sit down out of the wind. The employees all welcomed her with a smile and didn't mind at all.

While Judy got her coffee, Aiden stared intently at her. He watched her every move like a hawk. I was almost cringing, waiting for something embarrassing to come out of his mouth, like "Mommy she needs a bath," or "her coat is dirty". He didn't say anything though, he just watched her. At one point she accidentally dropped the little coffee stirrer on the ground, and Aiden spurred into action.

He ran over to her, saying, "I'll get it! I'll get it!" He picked up the stirrer and handed it to her. "Here you go, you dropped this!"

She looked at my little boy and I saw tears well up in her eyes, and for a second I thought she was going to cry. But then she just said, "thank you," and took the stirrer from his little fingers.

"You're welcome, very much!" Aiden answered happily and then ran back over to me, very proud of himself. Judy smiled at me and told me I had a sweet little boy, and I had to agree.

It occurred to me then how different children see things from adults. When we see homeless people, our first reaction is almost always to move away, sit on the other side, avoid eye contact, as if their homelessness were some disease that might rub off on us. Not so with children. Aiden didn't see her troubles or assume the worst about her and stay away. He saw someone who needed help and he rushed to give it to her, the same as he would for you or me.

How I wish that I hadn't been so jaded by this world, that I could still see things the way he does. As adults we try and teach our children, but sometimes our children end up teaching us.