Imagine the Quaker
an erstwhile mirror site for weblog on newquaker.com
archives | newquaker.comSaturday, September 04, 2004
The aftermath of pride. L. and I have been in the process of moving from apartment to house, so that has kept me away from the blog for over two weeks (well, that and the start of another busy semester at the college), but in the process I had another weird convergence of ideas—pride and conscience.
Here's how it happened. L. and I finally finished the move to the house and one of the things we needed was a new television stand. So I went to Wal-Mart for this and a few other things and wheeled a shopping cart through our local Super Wal-Mart, stacking things onto the little seat on the shopping cart. I usually start there and then put larger things, as I encounter them, in the deep part of the cart. I found a nice stand, unassembled in a box and weighing about 90 pounds, and heaved it into the cart. When I checked out, I had the clerk scan the barcode on the box so we didn't have to take it out the cart right then and there. When I loaded the box in the car, to my horror I discovered that at the bottom of the cart was a small package of cologne. I guess when I put the stand in the shopping cart, it knocked the cologne from its perch on the seat and the small box stayed hidden by the larger one during checkout. I say "horror" in a way that is familiar to Christians. Nothing excites our conscience more than staring down a choice between keeping what seems to be lagniappe on the one hand and running from the conviction of the Spirit on the other:Hey, it was hidden by the bigger box; I didn't know it was there—is that my fault? Isn't that what those scanners are for at the entrance?
Yes, but if you don't pay for this, it's the same thing as stealing the cologne. You took this out of the store without paying for it!
But I'm the only one who knows it.
No, God knows what you've done.And so forth .... The only solution was for me to pay for it—and that's what I did.
It took a week for me to get around to doing it, though, but today I marched back into Wal-Mart with the empty package and paid for it at the Courtesy Desk. The puzzled clerk said something to the effect that I didn't have to do that, but I assured her I did. What a load was taken from my shoulders! My conscience was clear! God saw my good deed! How proud I was! I strutted around like a peacock for a while and then decided, since I was in the store anyway, to pick up a few things before going home. I grabbed a shopping cart near the entrance and wheeled through the aisles with a new energy. I picked up some frozen food and found vitamins on sale, too, so with prideful joy threw two bottles in the cart. When I checked out at the cashier's, I reviewed the sales slip to be sure that I had paid for everything: everything was on there, including a bottle of vitamins. How proud again I was! I got out to the car and put the bags in the back and was about to take the basket to the stand when to my horror I discovered that in a corner at the bottom of the cart was a second bottle of vitamins.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 1:30 AM
© Merle Harton, Jr. All rights reserved. Biblical references are NIV® unless otherwise noted.
