Take a Few Moments.....

Yesterday I was in the mall, standing across from Orange Julius, which I didn't even know was still in business. I don't frequent malls often, and when I do, I try to go in and out as fast as possible. Yesterday, however, we met part of my husband's family at a mall. I was waiting for my husband and my brother-in-law and his wife, so I was just standing out in the middle of an area, watching people, as I often do. I observed a small, elderly man coming out of one of the major stores, and he was looking at people and saying hi, but no one would make eye contact with him or say hi back. Instead, they just rushed by him like he was invisible. I thought it was quite rude. He was just a very soft spoken, elderly man, who looked completely harmless. Yes, I understand he could have been, but I doubted it. He looked like a man who was lonely, who had probably been a farmer or some type of laborer, because you can just tell those things if you really observe people. He came towards me, and I made eye contact with him and smiled and said hi. He smiled back and said hi. He walked past me, but then came back and asked me if I knew where the elevators were. I told him I did not know because I hadn't been in that mall for a couple years and it was so large, I didn't know where much of anything was. He agreed, and said he hadn't been there in many years, either. He usually frequents the one in the valley, but his house had burned down a few months ago so they had put him and his wife up in a motel while they worked on getting him a new house, and in the process he ended up on the other end of town. He told me that it had been a tough year, because not only had he lost his home, but his wife had very recently passed away. I told him I was sorry, as tears formed in his eyes. By this time, my family members were standing a few feet away, wondering who I was talking to. The man told me quite a bit about his life in a few short moments. He told me that life was sure different without his life-long companion, and he wondered if I knew of any large groups where he could meet some people his age, to play games with, and just be around for company. I told him our church had a group for the 50+ crowd and that I thought it was a good sized group, but I didn't know any details because I worked with teenagers. I told him if he had the internet he could check it out there, but he just chuckled and told me that he was too old for the internet. He said it might be too far to drive right now, but when he got back to his home, he may look into it. He told me of the church he attended, and then he said he may have to check out a few others in the area so he could find some people to be around because being alone was tough. His daughter lives on the other side of the state, and he doesn't see much of her, however, he was going to make a trip over to her house to take his wife's two cats to her because he just isn't a cat person. He told me he thought he would get himself a golden lab or a golden retriever because he thought they made good companions. I was able to assure him that they most certainly do since I own one. He saw me glance up at my family and said he didn't want to keep me any longer but he sure appreciated that I talked to him. I must say that it made my trip to the mall worthwhile. When I rejoined my family, they wondered who the man was that I was talking to and I told them I didn't know, he just needed someone to talk to, I guess.

I challenge you to look at people when you are out and about and observe them. Yes, be careful, because there are some not so nice people out there and you have to be discerning, but there are also a lot of good people out there. Some are lonely and just need to know that someone in the human race still cares. It took a little over five minutes out of my day, in the midst of hundreds of people, to talk to one lonely person. I hope it brightened his day a bit, because I know it did mine.