The other day I bought a sausage roll. I was given the wrong change. The person serving me was talking to his colleague and not paying attention. As I walked away I realised I was seventy pence up.
So I went back, explained, and handed back the right money. The other folk in the queue overheard, the man who made the mistake was very grateful, and said, I quote, “You’re brilliant mate.”
I know. Jesus said don’t do the right things in a way that makes you look good. Kindness doesn’t need to be advertised; honesty doesn’t need a Facebook virtue signal. So why publish it here.
Call it tikkun olam, a rich Jewish phrase that means “to repair the world”. What I did was nothing much; what’s seventy pence in a world obsessed by billions? Small things though. Small seeds of honesty matter; quiet words of kindness help folk walk the next mile; a prayer for hearts broken but not beyond repair, aids the healing; racist words consistently contradicted by words that dignify; this is to be faithful in the small things, “to repair the world”.
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