Today I was at the grocery store with my toddler, and I was in a slight hurry. I went around noon, so it was bustling with customers, many elderly, and many of them not moving very fast. I am usually understanding of this, but couple this with the fact that too many people were momentarily leaving their shopping carts in inconvenient places to retreive something off the shelf, and you've got a bad mood brewing somewhere. At one point, a 70-ish woman and her husband, were blocking an aisle with their cart. From my point of view, I thought that either they couldn't make up their mind where to go, or someone else was blocking them. I was annoyed, and said, within earshot of another customer, "what's going on?" The customer said to me, "it's hard for her to move".
It didn't even occur to me that she may have had a medical condition, or even a mental condition that keeps from proceeding. It made me realize that maybe it's really not about MY convenience, but about being understanding of another person's needs. At the end of the day, I can still walk, without pain, without balance issues, without confusion (most of the time). I should not take that for granted!
I hope I remember this the next time I need to go to the store.
