Am I becoming a soft touch in old age? You decide.

Today at the grocery store I was waiting in line when a black woman in her early 30' in line behind me, noticed my LSU sweatshirt. She asked if I was from LA and I told her I was raised just south of the LSU campus off Starring Lane. She told me she was raised in New Roads (where I have fond memories fishing at False River) but she later moved to N.O. with her husband when she became pregnant and got married. She said that shortly after moving her husband became involved in the drug trade and quit his job. She was already pregnant with her second child at that time. Then Katrina came and they had to move and came to the Atlanta area. She told me that they received some kind of check from the Government or insurance company 10 months later for several thousand dollars. When her husband got his hands on the check he cashed it in and went back to N.O. and deserted his family.

Her 2 girls were with her in line and both spoke ever so politely to me while waiting, unlike other children their age around here. As the cashier was ringing me up I happened to notice that almost every one of her food items on the belt had been reduced as they were about to go out of date such as meat and produce. That got my attention. I finished paying and walked a short distance away and watched. She paid cash and by the appearance of it, it was all she could afford. I followed behind her to her car, an early 90's Chevy. That's when I caved.

I approached her and told that I had been observing her when in line and wanted to know more about her situation not knowing how she would react to an old white guy being nosy. She took a deep breath and told me the rest of her story. She had lost her job because the company she had worked for went bankrupt three months earlier. She was on unemployment but had refused food stamps because she didn't feel it was right. She had gotten some help from her church but it was far short of what they needed.
I reached into my wallet and took out all the cash I had on me...$247.00...and asked her to take it. At first she refused but after seeing I was serious gave in. I also gave her one of my best friends business card and told her to call him for a job, which I'm sure he will offer her. It was another 10 minutes before we parted, after exchanging numbers and hugs from all three of them. The only thing she could offer me was a free home cooked Louisiana meal once she starts back to work and can afford the crawfish.

This is not normal behavior for me (ex-Marine and all) but something clicked inside of me. I'm just wondering if others on this board can relate?