Written by: Amanda Eifert
Blogger at: MandiBelle16

When I was about four-years-old, my Mom, my brother Justin, and I, arrived home to our condo after errands my Mom had needed to run. We started to get out of our van when a woman approached my Mother. The woman desperately needed money so she could buy food and diapers for her small daughter.

My Mom would not give the woman money, because it was too difficult to tell at times, if a person needed the money for drugs or alcohol. But the woman must have needed food and diapers for her family badly, because she sat next to my Mom in the front of the van.

Mom drove the woman to Superstore to buy her groceries, diapers, and a few toiletries she needed. I remember walking up and down the aisles in Superstore with my Mom and this woman. The woman knew exactly what she needed and told my Mother where to go to find the items she needed. The woman wasn’t ashamed that she needed help. Perhaps, she did not have the luxury of feeling ashamed.

When we went to pay there were many bags of groceries. My Mom drove back to our condo, near to where this woman lived and she helped the woman carry the groceries into her condo. The woman was extremely happy and gracious. I think my Mom may have even given the woman an extra twenty dollar bill because in the end, she did trust the woman. For reasons I cannot recall, the woman did not have money enough to provide for her and her daughter.

What this woman did not realize and my Mom never said, was that our family did not have much money at this time. My Dad was the only one working as a teacher at Christian school which did not pay nearly as well as the Public Schools paid their teachers. It must have been hard on my Mom buying all those groceries for the woman who needed them, when her family’s own budget was stretched tight for food. But my Mom believed this woman needed the groceries, diapers, and toiletries more than her own family needed them. My Mom was poor growing up, she new what it was to be in real need.

I learned compassion from my mother. She has sympathy and empathy for those who are in need. I think that is why whenever I take the train,  I often give a ticket to a homeless man looking for bus fair. And sometimes I even buy them a hot lunch now and then. Compassion is learned. I hope every mother teaches their children to be compassionate because there are many people who need a bit of caring and a helping hand in this world; not only that woman, years ago.

Amanda is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She loves to write, blog, paint, draw, watch the Edmonton Oilers play hockey, and Edmonton Oilers play Football. She also loves dogs, yoga, walking, and hang-out with her wonderful friends and family. She can be reache @mandibelle16 on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. She can also be reached through her blog: www.mandibelle16.wordpress.com