The woman carefully took out two sets of utensils from her purse and with her husband, they ate their meal. At the food court. In a mall. Yes, you read that right…
I happen to sit at the table right next to them. My mom was at the bank. That was few months ago. I was waiting for her and listening to Jim Rohn’s audiobook, The Art of Exceptional Living. I removed my headphones and could not help but being completely interested in them. They were all smiles and quite anxious to start their meal.
I make the comment that it’s impressive and rather unusual to see people make the effort of bringing their reusable forks and knives.
It’s completely normal to bring our own utensils and napkins. They’re always in my purse and ready to be used. I would never want to eat a meal with cheap plastic.
I was blown away. And not only that. What they expressed after made me just about fall off my chair.
She told her husband how happy she was to share a meal with him and how grateful and lucky she was to be eating this particular meal. He felt the same way. They truly appeared to enjoy their lunch. And their time together. Just two appreciative people.
Simply writing this brings tears to my eyes. I mean, how often do we express this much gratitude in a food court?
Probably never.
I wished them a wonderful day. I head for the restroom to have a few tears. What a beautiful and moving moment!
It was more than their cute and simple zero-waste effort. They were really interested and intentional about it. They felt their small effort was better than no effort at all.
Leaving the earth in a better shape than you found it is all about becoming interested in making a positive contribution and educating ourselves on how to accomplish it.