This is Sheriff Peanut Butter Brickle.  There are things in your day that you do all of the time.  Those things are as routine as how long I look at myself in the mirror.  I never break that routine.

And as much as dogs like to have a routine to feel useful and happy, some persons need that too.  They get up, they go to work, they make dinner, they get gas in their cars, they pay their bills, they work, work, work.  And another thing that they do? They go to a store that they call a grocery store. And they don’t even think about what they are doing.

First of all, I am not too fond of the grocery store. Because that is about the only time that Girl Person leaves Deputy Digby and I during the week.  She says that if we went with her, we would put things in her cart like peanut butter cookies, peanut butter, and more peanut butter.  I would buy everything made with that magical mixture.

Needless to say, there would be no pancake mixes or maple syrup left for anyone if Deputy Digby Pancake went shopping.  As well, everything on the bottom two shelves in the whole store would remember that he was there.  Anyway.

The only thing I like when Girl Person goes to the grocery store is when she comes back from the grocery store.  It’s like she is the best food hunter ever.  She comes back with all of these bags of food and stuff to cook for us during the week.

This week, she had a story for us, she said.  No, it wasn’t a story about peanut butter.No, it wasn’t a story about peanut butter cookies. Or anything made with peanut butter, which everything should be made with peanut butter.

No, it wasn’t a story about Deputy Digby making his rounds in the grocery store. No, it was the story of the shopping cart.

Girl Person was tired.  She wasn’t feeling good.  And really, she said that the grocery store was a bit overwhelming to her that day.  She had a lot of work to do, but she knew that they were out of wine.  Yes, I said it. They were out of wine.

So. She had to go to the grocery store.  But she wasn’t happy about it.  And so, as she walked up to the door, she took notice of all of the other people walking in too.  They were in a hurry.  They were rushing to the door.  And she just didn’t have the energy. She wasn’t in the greatest of moods.  But as she went to pull out one of those carts that persons put everything in at the store like a kangaroo pouch, she noticed an older lady person that also needed a cart.  Girl Person said that it was one of those times where you think many things at once. She said she was thinking she should hurry, that she had work to do. She said she was trying to think of how much money she should spend.  She said that she was worrying about us, and if we were missing her too much.  But she pushed all of those things aside to just hand the older lady person a cart instead of getting her own first.

Now, this was not a big thing to do.  It was smaller than a small thing to do. But Girl Person said it was the proper and the right and the kind thing to do.  But the older lady person didn’t know what she was doing. And instead? She thought Girl Person was trying to hit her with a cart.

At first, Girl Person didn’t know if she should still give her the cart after seeing her face.  She didn’t seem too happy to be handed a cart. But Girl Person decided to smile and tell her that the cart was for her. The older lady person’s frown turned to surprise, and then turned to butter.  Peanut butter.  She said thank you so very much and seemed genuinely…happy.

But what Girl Person took from her was not the shopping cart back.  No, no.  She took that in our world, sometimes, it is not just the fact that an act of kindness is rare.  It’s the sad fact that sometimes, persons don’t recognize an act of kindness.  Has our world become so busy and self serving that simple acts of kindness, that should be common, are now, not even recognized at all?

No matter what, Girl Person said that she would do it again.  Because even if no one sees the little things we do to be better to others, to show kindness, to be human (not as good as a dog), it still matters.  We know, we each know in our hearts, that it is always better to be kind. Even if no one notices.

And then, when we do the small things that matter, we will recognize when others show kindness to us too.

-Sheriff Peanut Butter Brickle

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