Where Has the Kindness Gone?

     When I was little I would spend a lot of time with my grandma. Any time we ran into Kmart she would not lock the car doors. Nothing ever happened. Sometimes we would run down the road to the grocery store, and she would leave the back door to her house unlocked. Nothing ever happened. Once someone followed my grandma on her way home from church. This man entered her drive way. He parked, blocking her way out of the drive way. He exited his car. He then let her know that she had a flat tired and wanted to make sure she knew and made it home ok. People don't do that any more do they?
     If I go to the store all of my older kids know to check the doors. If I leave my house, even while my husband is home, I lock the back door. I lock the doors during the day too actually. And if a man was following me home I would have pulled into the police station, not my drive way. The world is far different now than it was twenty years ago.
     Today my eldest two, the baby, and I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from a birthday party. When it was our turn to check out we moved up to the you-scan. I noticed the couple before us left $20. After noticing they left the store I had my daughter give the local cashier the $20 and an explanation. A few minutes later the couple came back to claim their cash. They thanked us for turning in the money.
     It was nice for them to thank us but my first thought was "Why should I be thanked for doing the right thing?" I'm not complaining that they thanked us. This was the right thing to do. I taught my kids something in doing this as well. It made me think that many might have just pocketed that money and moved on quickly and quietly. Where are the good people?
     I'd like to think most of us are the good people though. I'd like to think that if it was me, someone would have turned it in. In the past I forgot to pay for my milk because it was on the bottom of my cart. I circled back and paid. The cashier was shocked. She said most would have just kept it and left. How sad is it that this is the world we live in?
     Be the change you want to see in the world, right? I will.