One Step Separates A Hero From A Jerk

Okay, so, the other day I'm waiting for some movie that I paid to see that I completely forgot by the time I got to the car - remember when you wouldn't forget a movie until you got home or actually remembered it and spoke about it days later? Forgive me, I was waxing nostalgic.

So, I’m waiting for my movie and, to kill time til it starts, I look at some big, cardboard cutout of a movie to come (that smells of the desperation of marketing executives worried their bosses will find out most of their jobs are useless).

So, one minute I’m standing there with diet coke staring at the cutout, and the next minute, I’m standing there with my diet coke COVER, staring at the cardboard cutout.

As I have headphones on, listening to music, I don’t hear the cup fall and, therefore, don’t realize til I absently take a sip from my straw and notice, not only is air just coming through but I can see both sides of the straw.

Looking down, I see this huge puddle of diet coke and ice and cup and it's spreading. So, I think back to how my mother raised me, say screw that...and I walk away.

BUT, when I'm just a couple feet away, an employee with a mop and bucket shows up and tells me very sincerely not to worry. He'll clean it up. And, thinking quick, I say, Oh, thank god. I was just off to find help. I was afraid someone might slip on it.

He thanks me, telling me that most people just walk away without thought to the fact other people might get hurt. Well, those people are called jerks, I reply.

I love these moments in life. He approaches a step later, I'm clearly one of the jerks I'm speaking of (which I am) but he doesn't and so I'm a hero.

It was then I realized just one step separates a hero from a jerk.

A moment later, I was off to get the free refill I was offered for being so considerate of others…which I gladly accepted.

What’s a hero to do?