I’m sorry. Please forgive me! I don’t mean to hold you up,” he said as he struggled to get off the escalator.

I’ll admit to it. There have been times when walking or driving behind an older person I’ve gotten impatient and upset. I’ve huffed and zoomed around them because I was in a

hurry to get nowhere. Perhaps I’m more aware of it now because I see myself there one day soon. Today I saw myself in this old man’s shoes and it caused me to slow down, stop and ask for his forgiveness.

He was about five or six people ahead of me. I was in a hurry and saw him as an obstacle. I’ve seen people get off the end of an escalator and stop dead in their tracks, gather their things and suddenly there’s a pile up of angry people behind them. You can’t stop an

escalator full of people behind you. Like the Energizer bunny, they keep on goin’.

This man was well aware of the challenge. He tried desperately to step aside. Fumbling with his small packages, struggling to gain his footing, you could see how troubling this was for him. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me! I don’t mean to hold you up,” he said as he struggled to get off the escalator. I felt sorry for him. I felt sick to my stomach because this man was apologizing to everyone, when we should have been helping him and calming his fears. One by one, people zipped around him. I heard a few angry comments whispered as one lady passed by him. I saw me. By the time I got to him he was just about steady on his feet.”Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know there was more,” he said. “No, sir. No more with me,” I said. This really hit me hard.

I realized right then how sad it was that the world was in such a hurry. That, of course, included me. But.… no more with me. Count me out. This wonderful man paid his dues.