Reaching For Peace

A few weeks ago...I approached the cashier at a drug store to pay for what I was buying...just fractionally ahead of a man...who was abreast of me...and also heading for the same cashier. "Go ahead"...I told him...not being in a frantic hurry myself. He looked at me with disbelief...put his hand on my shoulder...and said to me..."Go on...you've got to fight for your place in the line!"...like a father instructing a foolish child. I found myself smiling at him and I went ahead and payed for my goods. Afterwards I was reflecting on this little "happening". First of all...in this sometimes bruising world...it was good of him to let me go ahead...after I was going to let him do that. Secondly...however...his remark suggested that he may have perceived me as being weak in asking him to go ahead...and needing to be told an ancient truth about life...i.e. "fighting for your place in the line". What he may not have seen...was that I wasn't being weak...but simply..."reaching for peace"...in a world where the reflex action seems to be too much of the time..."reaching for war". It would be interesting to know what his actual take was...on this little piece of "survival of the fittest"...when it is met by a response...outside of that ancient notion.........Quester.