Attitude Adjustment

In 1969 I was a young girl working in the big city. I was from a small town in Ontario and had just moved to Toronto about five weeks earlier. It was one week before Christmas and I was going home on the streetcar, the last one of the evening.

I remember looking at my paycheque and asking myself how it was going to endure. At that time in my life I barely had enough money to exist on. Kraft dinner was a mainstay supper for me and oatmeal for breakfast was the only way I kept hunger at bay.

I hopped off the streetcar and started walking up the street when I noticed a man was running after me. I stopped, turned around, and seeing that he was black I snapped, "What do you want?" The man replied in a soft voice, "I am returning your wallet that you left on the streetcar seat."

Because of that man's thoughtfulness, I was allowed the luxury of going home by bus for the holidays. Otherwise I would have stayed in my 8' x 10' room with a hot plate.

I have never been so ashamed of myself, and that poor, kind man now had to walk, who knows how far, home.

I recognized immediately that this was wrong of me and changed my ways forever.

Submitted by Anonymous

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