A Dollar-ish

There we were, sitting on a couch facing the counter in the car wash building. We were waiting for my mom's ivory Lexus to make its way through the maze of giant car mops. The woman at the counter turned and asked my mom and the lady on the other couch for some change to pay for her 44-ouncer. She thought she put a dollar in her purse, she explained. That's what happens to your money when you have teenagers at home, she went on, joking but embarrassed.

Before my mom could pull out the money, the other woman, closer to the counter, handed the woman a dollar.

As remarkable or unremarkable as that may seem, the more interesting part of this story is what this woman said afterward. The woman at the counter accepted the dollar and said thank you, and the Dollar Giver said these things in the ensuing conversation:

"Just pass it on to someone else."

"I just love people."

"We need one another."

She then mentioned that she was writing a book entitled Connecting the Dots, all about this good will type of thing, I assume.

Isn't that beautiful? Clearly, the Dollar Giver understood the value of her fellow man. She understood that no matter how small a dollar might be, it was worth it to give to someone in need. She understood that the Dollar Receiver was no "worse" than her. She understood that human beings do just need each other.

And by understanding those things, she helped me understand them, too.