Frustration

Ooh, I felt it last night. I went grocery shopping with Hannah, and was having a pretty good time. She was being cute, and not acting up too much, and I was leisurely strolling down the aisles.

You know how when you go on a long shopping trip like that, you'll keep seeing the same people over and over as they go up and down the aisles too? Well, last night, there was this teenage kid, and his mother. He was probably 17 or so, and his mother was older, I wouldn't be surprised if she was 60. And she was using one of those motorized riding carts.

Every time we passed them, he was complaining. Which I didn't think much of. A teenager? Complaining? *Gasp!*

Anyways, I am finally in the long line to check out. (they only had one lane open, who knows why) That kid and his mom were at the end of an aisle nearby, and they started arguing. Well, it wasn't so much an argument, as the kid being a complete and utter snot. The mom was wanting to check out one more thing, and apparently the son had had enough. He berated her about what time it was, that he had school in the morning. (It wasn't even 10 p.m., which isn't early, but when I was in high school, being up at that time wouldn't have been a big deal either.)

It kept escalating, and I could feel everyone in the store just trying to ignore it. This kid going on and on, and he started to get pretty hateful. His mother sat there trying to talk to him, but he would hear nothing of it. I am a pretty laid back person, but it got to the point where he was being so horrible towards her, that it took a lot of concentration to not walk back there and slap that kid. Now, I understand he may have had a really bad day, who knows what factors were involved in his life at that moment? But no matter what, all I could think was, you DON'T treat a fellow human being this way. It was downright abusive.

I wanted to interfere, so badly. But the rational side of me knew it wouldn't help things. It probably would have embarrassed the mother, and forgive me for being judgmental, but, I could tell that kid was the type that would not "get" it. No matter what I said would probably just have been met with hostility. It was one of those situations where I wanted to step in to make things better, but by doing so, would have made them worse. And nothing frustrates me more than wanting to help someone and not being able to.

I guess all I can do is pray for them. Because even though I am powerless to fix things, God never is.

Now I just need to work on the letting go part. I am such a mother hen, that it's hard. I know God can handle it just fine without me, but sometimes it's still hard to let go.