Like a Capra Film

While it is strange, though not impossible, to be surprised by acts of solidarity or generosity when we are struck with adverse situations—we are even more surprised when these acts of benevolence come from the people we least expect, or complete strangers. I can be moved to tears when I hear about such situations; it's like watching a Capra film or admiring a Rockwell painting. For those who have never heard of the American film director who made comedies from the 1920's through the 1960's, Capra's films offer a generally clear and optimistic message about the good side of human nature, and the value of altruism and hard work. Norman Rockwell was of the same vein—an American illustrator who drew portraits of innocent daily life in small town America.

Recently, my friend B.H. who lives in a small chilly town near New York City, was brave enough to leave her house after one of those long snowy nights. [It is snowing cats and dogs in the land of Uncle Sam; could it be the greenhouse effect?] She planned an outing to the grocery store to buy some staples and a hot soup to eat while she sat in front of her computer fooling around on Facebook. So, she slipped a long-sleeve plaid flannel shirt on top of her turtleneck. Over this she donned an orange fine merino wool sweater, covered by a green virgin wool coat from New Zealand. As a finishing touch, she got into a red nylon jacket, lined with fuchsia polyester fleece, accompanied by her lined purple leather gloves, wool-lined pants, black rubber boots with fake-wool lining, thick wool gloves, and a horrible green chlorophyll-colored wool hat from Siberia—something shocking enough to frighten a young child. She pretty much looked like a tie-dyed Pillsbury doughboy. So, off she went to the grocery store.

Staggering inside from the chill, she wandered past the many aisles of produce, putting things in her little cart, including a flat tin of guava jelly, her favorite from Pacajus, Ceara a northeastern Brazilian state, which was on sale. She moved on to the prepared foods section and asked for a hot chicken soup. Making sure she had everything in her cart, she headed over to the checkout contended that she had remembered all of her essentials. Then, much to her surprise, she realized that she had forgotten something—her wallet! She stood there imagining, quite deflated in fact, how sad her walk home would be with empty hands, that morning where the thermometers were at -1ºF outside. Where had her head been to forget her wallet? She was embarrassed with her situation, with the people in line witnessing her shame. She didn't have a cent in her purse, not even enough to take home her hot soup that was going to taste so good on that wintery day. All she could do to relieve her self-consciousness was to return everything to the shelves. At that point, the clerk calmed her down, told her she didn't have to bother, that they would do that for her.

As she skirted out through the automatic doors still embarrassed, a gentlemen appeared, unknown to her, offering to pay her grocery bill. At the same time, a woman on her other side waved her credit card also offering to take care of her financial drama. And to complete the festival of benevolence, another clerk ran out of the store offering her the hot soup on the house, telling B.H. she couldn't go home without her lunch. She accepted the good will and the loan from the stranger, seeing in him a chance to meet him again, since he looked like he had been in an ad for Marlboro, and that he had the type of genes that she had been looking for, for her future children.

She politely declined the woman's credit card. She accepted the soup, and paid her bill as the manager insisted on driving her home. Some might say that this was a true expression of goodwill, but others will insist that everyone was afraid of her big ridiculous get-up!

Salvador, February, 25^th 2010

Versão original em portugues logo abaixo.