Petty & Shallow - that's me...
Yesterday my friend and I went to the coffee shop. I ordered a bagel, she ordered her coffee, then I ordered mine. We talked as they took the payment off my card, so I wasn't really paying attention to the total. We got the bagel and my coffee. Seems they only had one coffee on the order, and so they made me pay for another coffee before we could get what we had ordered. How annoying! It was their mistake, but I was made to pay for it.
I am both surprised and troubled at how quickly I feel slighted or wronged. Especially if I try to put this incident in the larger context.
This week an acquaintance went to the funeral of her mother, two nephews and a niece. Then she and her family had to make the decision on whether or not to leave their father and brother on life support. They are now planning the next funeral.
Also this week, we had the privilege of having lunch with Shay (sorry if I butchered that spelling) and Bijay. They have both come to Canada in the last 3 months - Shay from Nigeria and Bijay from Nepal. These two 20 year-olds know about injustice. Bijay was a child soldier at age seven, and for the next three years he entertained with his dancing and then was taught to use a gun and to kill. They lived in the forest and it was each man (boy) for himself - he had to forage for his own food.
I work for a Relief and Peace organization... Bijay's story is not unusual in this line of work.
And I'm fretting about the service at my local coffee shop...
