My first instinct was to judge the man who joined the line in the lower level of the Kaiser parking lot. There we were, a masked ribbon of humanity and this guy had the nerve to show up without a mask. He held a balled up hoodie over his mouth and nose, but still…
I took a breath and looked around to see if other people were giving him the stink eye. In that moment, my mind returned to a day a few months back when I showed up at Fred Meyer, intent on doing my grocery shopping. I stepped out of my car, pressed the lock button on my key fob and reached into my left pocket, where I always carry a mask, and found none.
I patted my back pockets and searched inside my car. Had I dropped it when I left the house, I wondered slightly panicked. My mind whirled as my heart raced. Should I go home and get a mask or just do groceries another day?
A heard the sound of car doors closing near me and the beep of a car locking. A couple about my age had parked not far from me. They wore those blue disposable masks. Dare I hope? Dare I ask? I opted to hope and dare.
“Good morning,” I said, maskless but warmly, as I approached them. “I seem to have left my mask at home. You wouldn’t happen to have an extra, would you?”
They sized me up for the briefest of moments, then the man said, “I think we do.” He turned, went to his car and brought me one.
The memory flashed through my mind in an instant, but that was enough time for me to let go of the judgement I directed towards the man. I continued to watch hime and noticed the anxious look in his eyes and the way he looked around. Was he worried people, like me, were judging him? When he reached the registration table, he took a mask from the box that sat beside the stack of clipboards and put it on. He seemed to relax.
I lost track of him as I was sent to the table for my flu and booster shots, but he has stayed in my memory, a lesson learned.
booksandbassets 
YES! This is such a powerful reminder. I keep having to tell myself to give others grace: with their masks, in their cars, everywhere that people test my patience in one direction or another. Thank you for this post. We can’t hear this message often enough.
True, I try my best not to judge people.
I’m so glad you shared this. We can all find ourselves panged with a judgmental thought from time to time. Some more than others.
So easy to judge others!! But I find myself forgetting a mask now and then so I get it. I don’t want to start jumping to negative conclusions about strangers. Thanks for the reminder to offer grace to others.
This is a lesson we all need to learn. So many of us are too quick to judge.