The Candy Bar Caper

     On the way into the store, I walked past a grown woman loudly telling her troubles to another woman. She was too loud and too angry, and I hurried by, thankful she was not talking to me.

      In the grocery line, I stood behind a little girl with a mop of golden curls holding a dollar bill in her first. The dollar came from her mother, and it was meant for the candy she held in her other fist. When the time came to pay, the girl tightened her fist and began to cry. The mother bent down and told her to hand it over. She refused. Her mother said, "Let go," took hold of her arm and shook it until, finally, the sweaty dollar fell out. I smiled at the little girl.

     As I left the store, a question dropped into my heart.

     "You were very generous toward the little girl, because she is a little girl. But, why didn't you see the little girl inside that grown woman? Why were you not kindhearted toward that little girl?"