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A while ago, I was forwarded this email by a religiously-inclined
relative. As the forward asks to be spread, and proceeds to make
a strong case to this end, I chose to post the story to American
Nerd, with a few of my own edits.
Subject: Breakfast at McDonalds
This is a good story, please read it all the way through. (After
the story there are some very interesting facts!) (a)
I am a mother of three (ages 14,12,3) and have recently completed
my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology.
(b) The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities
that I wish every human being had been graced with. (c) Her
last project of the term was called "Smile."
The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document
their reactions. (d) I am a very friendly person and always
smile at everyone and say hello anyway, so, I thought this would
be a piece of cake, literally. (e)
Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son,
and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning. It was just
our way of sharing special playtime with our son. (f) We
were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden
everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband
did.
I did not move an inch ... an overwhelming feeling of panic (g)
welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved. As
I turned around I smelled a horrible "dirty body" smell, and there
standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down
at the short gentleman, close to me, he was "smiling". (h)
His beautiful sky blue eyes (i) were full of God's Light
(j) as he searched for acceptance.
He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he had the second
man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. (k)
I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed
gentleman was his salvation.
I held my tears as I stood there with them. The young lady at the
counter asked him what they wanted. (l) He said, "Coffee
is all Miss" because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted
to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something.
He just wanted to be warm.) (m)
Then I really felt it -- the compulsion was so great (n)
I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes.
That is when I noticed all eyes in the place watched my every action.
I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me
two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. (o) I then walked
around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting
spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed
gentleman's cold hand. He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes,
and said, "Thank you."
I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, "I did not do this
for you. God is here working through me to give you hope." (p)
I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. (q)
When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, "That is why God
gave you to me, Honey. To give me hope." (r) We held hands
for a moment and at that time we knew that only because of the Grace
that we had been given were we able to give. (s)
That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love. (t)
I returned to college, on the last day with this story in hand.
I turned in "my project" (u) and the instructor read it.
(v) Then she looked up at me and said, "Can I share this?"
I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.
She began to read and that is when I knew (w) that we, as
human beings and being part of God, share this need to heal people
and to be healed. In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald's,
my husband, son, instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom
to the last college student. (x)
I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn:
UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE. (y)
Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may
read this and learn how to LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS -- NOT LOVE
THINGS AND USE PEOPLE. (z)
If you think this story has touched you in any way, please send
this on. (aa)
There is an Angel sent to watch over you. In order for her to work,
(bb) you must pass this on to the people you want watched
over.
An Angel wrote: (cc) Many people will walk in and out of
your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.
(dd) To handle yourself, use your head. To handle others,
use your heart. God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw
it into its nest. (ee)
--- Robert Heiter (ff)
--- rheiter@[redacted].net
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| (a) This is not
a good story. This is garbage. And I defy you to find any facts
at the end of this. Exactly what definition of fact are we using
here? I mean, sure, I suppose you can argue that each person
has their own idea of good, and this story might be aesthetically
pleasing to somebody out there. But let’s not play fast
and loose with the definition of “fact,” please. Thank
you. |
| (b) Which reminds
me of my halcyon days when I got my college degree. It was very
annoying always having to take classes called English. It got
very confusing when I’d have multiple classes called "English"
in one quarter. |
| (c) And this applies
to the story how? |
| d) What the hell
kind of class is this? They’re obviously not doing anything
scientific. Smile at three people and document the reactions?!?
Is Kevin Spacey teaching the class and angling to sleep with
Helen Hunt? What educational value would come from this? |
| (e) [sic] |
| (f) I hate to get
all I-hate-fast-food-woo-woo-I’m-a-vegetarian, but am I
wrong in thinking that taking your kid to friggin McDonald’s
is a pretty piss-poor way to share special playtime? |
| (g) Maybe this is
just me, but when I go into overwhelming panic, I run or start
throwing punches or, at the very least, swear up a storm and
try to hide behind something. The author shows remarkable poise
in the face of overwhelming panic. |
| (h) “Smiling?”
Is he not really smiling? |
| (i) Once again, while
panicking, I tend not to notice the color of people’s beautiful
eyes. |
| (j) Which makes me
wonder if he should be wearing some sort of restrictive eyewear,
maybe like Cyclops of the X-Men. I mean, if you go around shooting
out God’s Light you could really hurt someone, or blind
them at least. |
| (k) This only makes
sense as two sentences. Maybe this is the overwhelming panic
finally seeping in. |
| (l) Righhhhhht.
There’s a long line at McDonald’s, everyone wants
their food so that they can get on with special playtime, and
a couple of homeless guys walk in. In horror, everyone abandons
their place in line so that the homeless guys can walk up to
the counter. And management is cool with this. Sure. |
| (m) Just in case
you’re too stupid to figure this out. Note, by the way,
that the narrator neglects to invite the two special people
into her warm minivan or take them home to her warm house at
the end of the tale. |
| (n) Look at all the
Sociology she’s learning! |
| (o) (the line apparently
not having re-formed after the homeless disruption) |
| (p) God seems to
be half-assing it these days. Why not have someone give the
guys a bag of money? Maybe have them be cast as the wacky homeless
duo in a new Adam Sandler movie and make tons of money? |
| (q) And there goes
your special playtime. |
| (r) This family tends
to speak in awfully formal English. |
| (s) Huh? |
| (t) Going out on
a limb here, the narrator may have been into God’s Sweet
Love before this happened. |
| (u) (the quotes apparently
indicating that she thinks her so-called project is as valid
as I do) |
| (v) Where is this
school?!? Your final paper is graded the second you hand it
in? Shit, I was in the wrong program. Although one does wonder
what everyone was doing while the teacher sat up there and read
everyone’s paper. |
| (w) The narrator
is also very prone to sudden infusions of knowledge. |
| (x) We’ve established
that this is a strange, strange school that she’s going
to, but I have to assume that there were at least one or two
guys in the back who were too stoned to have been particularly
touched. |
| (y) (As long as you
don’t have to invite those horrid people into your home
or anything) |
| (z) I am having a
great deal of trouble learning to use things. At this point,
all I can do is look at them. |
| (aa) Tell you what,
I'll even post it on my website... |
| (bb) These Angels
work under some pretty strange rules. Suppose I want an angel
to look over a friend without net access. Sure, I guess I could
print this out and mail it to them, but would they be covered
while the mail was in transit? |
| (cc) Do angels maintain
copyright on things they write, or does it automatically go
into the public domain? And where do angels do their writing?
Do they do it at work when they’re supposed to be writing
access reports like the rest of us? |
| (dd) WHAT ARE THESE
TRUE FRIENDS DOING, WALKING ON YOUR HEART?!? |
| (ee) Once again,
God is half-assing it. |
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(ff) But at the start, the narrator said
she was a woman. Are there many women named Robert? Or is
this family more interesting than we're originally led to
believe?
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