A Matter of Perspective

I didn’t know what I was going to write about. I had some ideas but I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about until Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday, I took my granddaughter Jasmine to lunch at Granny’s Cafe in Eagle Bend.

She likes me to ask her questions when we go out. She wants me to get to know her better! I usually laugh at that but yesterday I did not laugh. She was very serious. Jasmine started to cry, telling me how she didn’t feel like herself and that it was because people teased her, made fun of her, and called her names.

I tried to console her, but her little heart was breaking. I didn’t know what to do.

Out of the blue, it occurred to me to ask our waitress Mariah to talk to Jasmine.

Mariah is a young lady about 18. She is always smiling and seems to be self-assured. I thought maybe Jasmine might listen to her if Mariah told her she was a great kid.

The next time Mariah went past our table, I asked her if she would talk to Jasmine a little.

As Mariah was talking to her, Jasmine cried more and more. She seemed inconsolable. But as Mariah talked to her, the tears began to dry up.

By the time we were ready to go, Jasmine was almost back to feeling more like herself.

But Mariah was not done with Jasmine.

As we were paying our bill, Mariah gave Jasmine a sheet of paper and said, “This is a paper just from me for you to write the things about you that are great qualities. I already started it for you.”

On the paper were the words, “Beautiful. Amazing. Talented.”

Jasmine felt special as Mariah talked with her.

“It doesn’t matter what others say about you. At the end of the day all that matters is what you think about you,” she said.

Such wisdom from a young person. I was grateful to Mariah. She had helped in a way that I could not. She touched a young girl’s heart with her compassion.

I couldn’t think of a way to thank Mariah. So I decided to write about what she had done for my granddaughter. It may not seem like much to some people but for Jasmine and me, what Mariah did was priceless!

It was so wonderful to see such a display of compassion and boosting her self-esteem with the special words was going above and beyond!

We thank you, Mariah. You are priceless!