You never know what you say will live in the minds of others for a long long time.
About fifteen or more years ago a person I know and his wife were in Eckerds Drug Store and the cashier complemented the person's Braves baseball cap by saying, “I like that cap.” That is all she said. That one simple sentence has withstood the test of time better than some novels I have read.
After she made that statement to him about his cap he repeated it to me the next time he saw me. No big build-up or anything of the circumstances – he pointed to the cap hanging by the door and said the cashier at Eckerds said, “I like that cap.” And then he smiled with a sparkle in his eyes, very proudly.
Through the years, up until he died six years ago he reminded me time and time again what the cashier said. Each time time he smiled.
I was thinking maybe it was the way she complemented him… maybe she did it with a wink or a suggestive smile, or maybe even licked her top lip with her tongue as she said it … no, I don’t think so, I think it was taken no more than the way it was delivered, just a statement saying she liked his Braves cap.
I heard him tell his sons what the cashier said, tell fellow church members and tell my sons, one at a time.
I bet that particular sentenced lived far longer than the casheir anticipated. If she thought of the possibility of the sentence living that long I bet she would try to make it more meaningful or have more of a moral or maybe some kind religious or civic lesson or maybe more profound.
I bet she forgot she said her sentence before it was time for her next break.
But the sentence still lives. I have told several friends about this, and it might be remembered through them. And now it has found itself on a blog.
Millions of years from now some archaeologists might dig the sentence out of the ruins of the dust and electronic rubble of the 21st century layer, and that one sentence might be the only thing that survived out of civilization of our era.
Why didn’t the cashier make a statement about world peace and loving all of mankind or something like that.
4 comments:
Most people remember the positive stuff others say to them, especially if said at a time when they need to hear it the most. Maybe that man really needed to hear something about himself that somebody liked, and that's why it stuck with him. I know it works for me when I'm sad or depressed to hear a compliment, even if it's my choice in shoes :)
That must be it.
Followed a comment you left on Kenju's blog and I'm glad I did. I like this story.
Thanks Wenda!
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