{source}<iframe style=”float: left; border: 1px solid #000000; background-color: #C0C0C0; padding: 2px; margin: 10px; -moz-border-radius: 3px; -khtml-border-radius: 3px; -webkit-border-radius: 3px; border-radius: 3px;” width=”400″ height=”225″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/3nevPSFbB4I?rel=0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>{/source}I love a feel good story in the news.  Most news broadcasts like to share at least one of these stories.  What did Mary Poppins sing, “Just a spoonful of sugar…?”  I ran across this story and wanted to share it with all of you.  The story is a wonderful reminder that while some people are defined by one significant event, the rest of us are usually defined by the combined small moments of every single day.

Audrey Mark was shopping at her local Target store when she saw something that made her stop and take a picture with her cell phone.  A teenager was standing in the back of the store with several employees surrounding him.  At first she thought something was wrong, then she noticed something was very right.

Fifteen-year-old Yasir Moore had gone to Target to purchase a tie.  He was going to apply for a job at the Chick-fil-A and he wanted to look good for the interview.  He was looking at all the ties when Cathy Scott, a Target employee, approached him and asked if he needed help.  He did – and he found it.  Yasir wanted to buy a clip-on tie and couldn’t find one.  Cathy Scott could have said, “Sorry, we don’t sell them” and continued on her way.  Instead, she helped Yasir pick a tie and then found a co-worker who could help him tie it.

Then the two Target employees were joined by a third.  All three of these adults coached young Yasir about how to do a successful interview.  They told him to tuck his shirt in and look the interviewer in the eye he is speaking. They also taught Yasir how to give a firm, confident handshake as well.  That is the scene that Audrey Mark came upon.  When she realized what was happening, she wanted to take a picture of those employees and their act of kindness.

Yasir left the store that day looking sharp and encouraged by people who took the time to care.  In fact, he left the store hearing shouts of encouragement from them.  The picture Audrey took was sent to the local media who told the story on the evening news.  The story and the picture were picked up by the network and before long, landed on Good Morning America.  

Those same Target employees were there when Yasir received his job at Chick-fil-A a few days later.  Najirah Parrish is Yasir’s mom.  She was interviewed by the local news and said, “They could have just sold my son a tie, but they took the time, helped him tie the tie and talked to him. They treated my son with dignity, respect.”

This story was in the news the same week we were hearing about the three Muslim students who were killed by a man who allegedly was angry with them about a parking space.  The young people in both of these stories could have been described as looking “un-American.”  Truthfully, all of them looked American.  America has always been a country of many races and that one fact, over all others, might account for her greatness.

I loved what Najirah Parrish said about those Target employees.  She was grateful because they had treated her 15-year-old son with “dignity and respect.”  There are so many ways to treat a person.  This story was a good reminder of the power of kindness, compassion and the most important commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself..”  If you haven’t printed that reminder from our website, I hope you will.  

John Adams was the second president of the United States and signed the Constitution that was to define our country.  Adams said:

One day every Christian will live in Paradise.  Until then, we will have multiple chances to give people a glimpse of heaven – by the way we choose to treat them.  I would love for the United States to be seen by the world as a country that shows dignity and respect to others.  I would love for Christians to lead out in that example.

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