“The
The barista, a young woman in an apron and baseball cap, placed the two travel packs of coffee on the counter followed by a large cup of cream and a large cup of coffee in a carrier. Finally, the barista set out a bag containing stir sticks and paper packs of sugar and sweetener.
“Will there be anything else?” she said with a smile. The black woman on the other side of the counter sighed. “No, that should be everything I need,” she said, eying the two, bulky, brown, boxes of coffee. Shifting her bag to her shoulder, the woman started to arrange the items in an effort to make a single trip to the car.A 50-ish middle-aged man, seated with his wife, had watched the barista deliver the coffee supplies to the counter. Almost immediately he realized the woman was going to attempt to carry everything out the door all at once…by herself. Without hesitation, he excused himself from the table and walked briskly to the counter.
“Would you like me to help you?” he asked. The woman turned to face him. “Well,” she replied glancing back at the items on the counter. “Yes, that would be great,” she said, breaking into a smile.
The man picked up the two carriers then stepped back, motioning for the woman to go ahead of him. Holding the door with her hip they exited the coffee store together heading for the woman’s car.
Placing the carrier with the cream and coffee on the roof of her car she fumbled for the keys in her bag. “Take your time,” the man said with a smile. “I don’t have to be anywhere soon.” She returned his smile as she extracted the keys from her bag and unlocked the car.
She loaded the cream and the bag of supplies; then took the coffee carriers from the man, one at a time and loaded them into her car as well. Then she closed the car door with a sense of finality. “I wish I could take you along to the hospital,” she said turning to the man again. “We nurses love our coffee.”
“So do I, maybe next time,” he replied with a chuckle. Then he turned and headed back to the store to finish his coffee.
Ten years later, we still remember and honor the first responders to the 9/11 tragedy. It didn’t matter if they were a burly fireman, a lady cop, a Catholic chaplain or a rescue dog; we remember their unselfish acts performed in the interest of helping others.
We too are called to be “first responders,” to be the Good Samaritans of our day. Being a first responder does not necessarily mean we must put ourselves in harm’s way by running into a collapsing high-rise. What it does mean is to be willing to help others without hesitation and without consideration for the inconvenience or discomfort it might cause us.
These first responses are often simple things: holding a door open, picking up a dropped item or items for someone, helping a senior to the car, allowing someone go ahead of you (in line or on the road), thanking someone, or even just smiling, saying hello, or remembering someone’s name. Being a first responder means doing those thousand little kindnesses, that when we don’t do them, we say to ourselves, “I wish I had done that.” And, when we do respond spontaneously, we realize how good it feels afterward.
We can never adequately repay the first responders of 9/11/2001, but we can honor them. We honor them every time we are the first responder to the needs of another.
Dear God: Help me today to respond without hesitation.
“You been training for this moment your entire life. The universe has been conspiring, if you think about it, to put you right here, right now. Off you go, we're all waitin' on ya.” ~Jonas Blane, Character from ‘The Unit’ (TV Show 2006, Episode Title: ‘First Response’)
© 2011 James E. Carper. All rights reserved.
“90 Second Stewardship” is a reflection on being a Christian Steward in a secular and sometimes harsh world. This reflection is written by James E. Carper, Director of Development for Southeast Ventura County YMCA
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