Brother, can you spare a whine?

Spring is fully engaged in this part of the world. The sun warms as the breeze cools. It’s my favorite time of the year here in New England. Grass is green and leaf buds on the trees are opening, what my mother used to call “tender leaf,” in opposition to the “piss and vinegar” of our attitudes in this city, a trait for which Waterbury has become famous. I needed a walk today but I wasn’t sure I was up for my usual trail up and around Fulton Park. I wanted to avoid the area residents and their assaults against civility. But first I had errands to attend.

Already I was annoyed by the personnel at the local bank branch. They just told me they would hold my check for 5 days. It forced me to drive an extra ten miles to have my personal banker approve it for immediate posting. Three times I was misdirected at the sporting goods store, wasting more time. And then I needed to shop for storage containers at a restaurant supply store where the people are unfriendly and the prices exorbitant. It’s a big dark box of a warehouse and the workers are sour. In particular is one very skinny woman whose arms are habitually crossed and her lips turned down at the corners. Maybe the permed and died mullet are to compliment her sallow personality and complexion.

As I wandered through the aisles and took notes, comparing sizes of food bins and prices on parchment paper a young female customer kept wandering around, her despair increasing. As I was ready to pay, she was at the counter and leaving her name and information. Apparently she had accidentally lost her employer’s credit card and was preparing to go back to work and tell him. The manager at that point told her to hold on. He thought he saw something slip under the shelves when she dropped her papers but he thought she had picked it up. She had, but there were two cards so they went back and alas found the lost piece of plastic. At this point the woman broke down crying, so grateful that her fears had been eradicated. The mood within the expanse immediately lightened and we were all smiling. And I thought this is the first public compassionate interaction of people I have witnessed in my city in months and I left with a smile on my face, fueled by the grace of humanity. Later I went for my walk, ignoring the piles of garbage lining the lakes and ponds and focusing on the blossoming fields of violets and the blue sky.

Why have we become so intolerant of each other?