Once In a While

Just a quick funny story from last week...

I never saw the car coming and didn’t hear anything either. I was just walking along when all of a sudden, “Wham!” My feet went out from under me and whatever hit me from behind tore a shoe right off my foot! I went flying, hit the ground hard, and so did my cell phone.

It took me a few seconds to gather myself and turn my head to see what hit me. What I saw was a shock to me and it surprised me so much I started to laugh. Yeah, I was a little banged up, and my heel was bleeding, and my phone was missing, but the vision in front of me was so hilarious I just couldn’t stop laughing long enough to get up.

Eventually a man came running over, apologizing, and offering to help me up. But it wasn’t the man who ran me over. It was his two little boys about 7 or 8 years old motoring through the mall in a toy car, apparently at full speed, and also apparently unaware of what or who was in front of them. The look in their eyes after they hit me was sheer terror, kind of like the look on the face of that kid in “Home Alone” after he attempted to shave and apply cologne. And by the angry demeanor of the large man who was apologizing to me, I could see why they were staring at him and not me.

The angry man and his equally angry wife both started to yell full volume at those two boys. They probably figured they were going to get sued for killing an innocent old man walking through the mall. But after a minute of listening to them yell at their sons, I stopped them. I then turned to the two boys and said, “Listen guys. It was an accident and accidents happen. I’m okay and I know you didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Just please be more careful in the future. No response, but their faces did seem to regain a little color.

Anyway, after spotting my phone, I started walking away. Unfortunately, I heard Mom and Pop still going off on those little kids. I just shook my head and thought, “If I ain’t mad, why are you?”

So you’re probably wondering why I called it a “funny” story. Well, I didn’t mean funny like ha, ha! I meant “funny” like odd! Here I am bleeding and banged up, and yet I’m feeling sorry for the little varmints that did it to me. Maybe that’s not odd though. Maybe that’s just me remembering some of the mistakes I made when I was a kid. Don’t we all need just a little forgiveness once in a while!

Forgiveness is a funny thing.

It warms the heart and cools the sting!

~ William Arthur Ward