I was in line at the local Publix yesterday. I just can't go through the day without my fat-free French vanilla ice cream. There was an old gentleman checking out in front of me. Certainly in his 80's. I thought that he handled the card reader and his debit card quite well, but the two women working the counter - one ringing up the purchases and the other bagging - evidently felt differently. As the old man walked away one looked at the other and made some joke about how slow the man was. In a completely calm and pleasant way (for which I am known) I said; "Yeah, and about 65 years ago that old man may well have been trying to climb a cliff at Normandy with thousands of Germans trying to kill him." I swiped my card, entered my PIN, punched the "no cash" button (I'm not allowed to carry cash) and then looked up. The cashier had a tear running down her cheek. She looked at me and said "thank you for reminding me." Hopefully after I left she gave a little history lesson to the much-younger bagger.
And to all of the old farts we will encounter today fumbling with debit cards and driving 20 mph below the flow of traffic in the left lane with your blinkers on ... Thank you and God bless you. Thank you every day ... not just on Veteran's Day.
