wasting time ...

How often do we have a chance to help someone, yet let it slip away ?

A young man called to me at CSC, wanting to know if he would be "wasting his time" to wait, since there were so many people ahead of him in line ...

It was already on my mind that it seemed a lot of people waited until the last hour this week, but there must have been a reason they could not arrive earlier.

The man seemed to relax some when I assured him we would not run out of food.

Later, when his order was packed, he wanted someone to deliver it to his home. I offered to do that as I often do, but then he wanted to ride along - something I would allow except that I already had food to deliver to others, leaving no room for a passenger.

He made his disappointment clear enough, saying that he had ridden his bicycle to CSC, so I suggested that he ride home and I would meet him there.

At that point he said he had an appointment in town but could not get to it in time if he had to ride home first, then back ...

I began to back away then because it was clear to me that he expected an increasing amount from someone else - anyone else I suppose.

Something more I need to learn from this exchange I am thinking now, but not seeing it yet. Right now I am only seeing a missed opportunity to help another human being ...