An interesting thing happened to me this evening as I entered a bookstore that shall remain unnamed. It does begin with a B. In the space between the two front doors they had a display of books they were trying to quickly get out of their inventory. One of them caught my eye. It had been an expensive book of Tony Bennett’s art work. It was now only $5.98. I couldn’t resist. A bit later when I went to pay for it the lady at the checkout said, “This can’t be right.” She picked up a phone and said to some unseen person, “Someone has drawn a marker through the bar code and written a very cheap price.” All the time she was talking I was getting the evil eye. She seemed to be looking for a marker in my pocket. Soon the unseen person arrived and he too said, “This can’t be so.” He also gave me the “What are you trying to pull here” look. Finally I spoke up and said, “Folks, there is a pile of them in the entry. They are all marked the same. Go see.” They did. I was most disappointed for I never got an apology. But what I did get was my book for $5.98.
Why can’t people say they are sorry? Is it so painful to acknowledge that we have been wrong about something or someone? Does it diminish us to regret misjudging someone? Does it always have to be someone else’s fault? I have this gut feeling that until we can learn to do this very simple thing we can’t expect much forgiveness for ourselves. Pride is a dastardly thing that eats away at character development. May God help us.
Written by Roger Bothwell on October 27, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org