Hypocrite

Last night I went to the grocery store. As I was staring at the vegetarian sausage patties, I heard a clatter at the end of the aisle. I knew what that sounds meant: someone had dropped their plastic spoon. I heard the resultant exclamations of disappointment, and ventured a quick glance. It was a little girl. With her was an older woman, perhaps her grandmother.

Grandma kept walking down the aisle, urging the little girl to come along. "It's no good," she said about the spoon. "It's dirty now."

The little girl, however, stuck by her spoon for a moment more, then asked as she walked away from it, "Why can't we pick it up and throw it away?"

A very good question, I thought. To put it mildly, I was upset with the grandma. Those sorts of things make me mad, when people don't take responsibility for their actions. Who would deliberately teach their child to litter like that?

They continued down the aisle.

I probably glared at them as they passed. I'm just that sort of a jerk.

As soon as they were past me, the grandma said, "Because there's nowhere to throw it away." Which was a lie: there was a trash can at the end of the aisle.

But... ask me whether I picked up that spoon, either.

Sigh.

Oh, thou hypocrite.