Something interesting happened this afternoon, and I plan to take it as a learning experience to try my best to be less of a judge to other people.
I was at the post office waiting in line and this guy in front of me had what seemed like a lot of money. He appeared to be an older guy, who probably wasn't born here. In my mind, I had thoughts about what I came there for, along with ones about why this guy would just have all of this money (not kind thoughts, I'm censoring myself because I feel bad about what I started to assume). I made eye contact with him for a second and then looked away, with a neutral expression.
So he was called up next to the counter and I could guess he was doing a money order. I noticed a phone just there on the counter and my heart sank. It's hard to describe how I felt but it seemed like I was anxious all of a sudden, if it's possible to feel that way and also aware? I instantly put myself into his shoes and started picturing how terrible it would be to forget a phone. I was waiting/hoping for an opportunity to give him his phone, even though I assumed something not so nice about him.
You must become a writer. You have such a nice way of expressing your opinion. Not sure what you major is but consider writing; you would be good at it.
He was almost done and thankfully the other worker called me to come up to the counter. I used the moment to say, "Sir, you forgot your phone" and his response was, "Oh wow", and then I went back to the postal worker. I guess the others there, including the postal workers watched this because I heard someone say "Wow, he almost forgot his phone" and I think someone else said something but I tuned it out. I think he was so focused in getting the money straight that he forgot about his phone altogether.
It might not seem like a big deal to you all, but the way I felt after that made it hard to focus on anything. The poor assumption I made had a hand in how I felt since I went from that to "wow, I can't just leave his phone here" rolling around in my mind.
Edit: This is longer than I thought it would be, whoops. The short version is: I saw a guy who might have not been born here, assumed something bad about this guy, and I had to give him his phone because I was the only one to notice that he forgot it and that had me feel things.
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