Monday, September 3, 2007

Send me examples of "there but for the Grace of God go I"

So here's my example- I was taking two of my kids to the Chicago train station to go east to visit family. I had to stop at my job (at the time I was working at the Museum of Science and Industry) -for some reason, my husband (at the time) was taking the other two kids by car out east- so i took the bus from oak park to the southside of chicago, dropped off the work I had to leave at MSI, and went to take the bus downtown. I was pretty streetwise normally, but when you have young children, your focus changes-so I was gripping the kids one with each hand and had my purse over my shoulder. Suddenly a couple of people pushed through the crowd waiting for the Jeffrey Express downtown- I was annoyed but didn't really pay attention- I had the money for the bus (the kids were under aged 5 so they were free) and as I handed it to the driver I realized my purse was open and my wallet was gone- I'm sure I yelled out in surprise and upset- but there were a lot of people pushing to get on, so I got the kids in a seat and exclaimed' Oh no" what are we going to do?" Patrick got very upset and started crying- this was before cell phones, etc- and I couldn't figure out how we could take an overnight amtrak train with no money and no credit card-the kids were both crying and I probably was too- Sarah would have been maybe 4 and Pat 3-everyone was looking at me-and as we got to the Art Institute and I pulled the strap to stop the bus, a black woman pushed $10 into my hand- "Look, I don't know if you are scamming, " she said, but a white lady was nice to my husband, so take this ." I was totally embarrassed-after all, my husband and I both had jobs, but with four kids, we didn't have a lot of money and I was supposed to get on a train east. I took the money and thanked her and got off the bus. This would have been in the early 80's-still lots of racism in Chicago (as sadly there is now) and there was an uneasy relationship between most white and black folks in the city-but it was an act of faith for this woman to give me money. The end of the story is I was able to call my neighbors, they brought me some cash, we took the train, and I was never able to tell that woman what it meant to me that she helped me out. But whenever someone approaches with a hand out, I almost always give them something because I think "there but for the Grace of God, go I."

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