Keeping it Simple and a Lesson

We went looking for a coffee table for our living room last night. We have used my old cedar chest for a coffee table for what seems like a long time. It looks o.k. but you tend to kick it when you sit on the sofa. I can't clean under it easily as its heavy. So we thought we would look for something new. We found some tables that were reasonably priced but we found out why that was when we saw they had parts made of particle board, the stuff we refuse to use in our home due to the health hazards (see my post on furniture dangers ). Then we found some really fancy all wood tables, but the price tag was more than we wanted to spend and besides we are not really fancy folk. I like to keep it simple, actually we both do. We would much rather help out our kids or give to a cause we strongly believe in than to spend money on fancy furniture.

I suspect we will end up looking for tables in the antique shops. Easier to find real wood there and our antique stores are not all that expensive for the style we like. Simple. Or maybe the cedar chest will keep its present job.

This week I saw a side of humanity that I don't much like. A woman came here to buy some eggs, nicely dressed, hair perfect, fancy car and a bit demanding. Wanted just 6 eggs because she doesn't eat eggs often, the last six lasted her a couple months. She wanted only brown eggs, asked where we keep the chickens, as she peeked through the door looking as if to see them in the living room. I nicely told her they are kept out back in a chicken house. It was about 9:30 at night so I didn't offer to take her out there and the way she was dressed didn't seem to match a trip to the chicken house. This was not her first time buying eggs from us but she asked again what they eat. Asked if we had vegetarian chickens and I explained that they are free range which means they are allowed to eat bugs and small snakes if they come upon one. So technically, no, they are not vegetarian even though we feed them just grain.

Then she told me that she has an elderly neighbor who doesn't remember well. This neighbor would love some eggs but she doesn't want to risk buying her any because this elderly neighbor might forget to pay her the $1 for a half dozen eggs. She went on about how she had picked up soy milk at wal-mart once for this lady (who cannot drive) and this old forgetful neighbor has never paid her yet, so getting her six eggs for a dollar was quite a risk. First thing I wanted to do was give this woman a sermon, the second thing I wanted to do was GIVE her eggs for this elderly forgetful neighbor and then I thought it might just be better to find out who this neighbor was and bring them to her myself. I was sad as I watched this well dressed, obviously not poor, women get into her car. She has missed the entire point of life in a single conversation. We live to help others, to end the suffering of others, to love others as we love ourselves. I suspect this woman was for me a sermon of what not to be like. She taught me a lot. One dollar meant so much to her. One single dollar that she could obviously spare. As she walked to her car, she turned and asked me to consider visiting her church. I felt overwhelmingly sad.

the cedar chest as a coffee table, taken at christmas time two years ago.