Taking a moment off from political and cultural observations to recount an incident today at Costco.

There's a deliciously ironic symmetry to it,  or maybe, conversely, a straight-up asymmetry.  I'll let readers judge for themselves.

Arriving in the Costco lot,  my wife and I were waiting  for a car to pull out of a spot, which was adjacent to one of the chained off spots used for the return of  shopping carts after unloading purchases.

As I was pulling in, I saw that one of the carts was sticking past the loose guard chain into my spot on the driver side.  Not deep enough for me to have to stop and move it, but seriously enough into the space that I had to be cautious pulling in.

In the spot directly opposite me, a woman and her twelve or thirteen year old son were unloading their purchases into their van.  We were car nose to car nose.  The young boy saw me entering my spot, noticed the intrusive cart,  held up his hand as if to say, "I'll take care of it," and he did.

He ran to the cart and pulled it back into the cart space.  I thanked him.  He waved and then returned to continue helping his mother.  

I don't know  that I can describe the wonderful feeling I got  from that boy's gesture.  There is something glorious and optimistic about a youngster,  anyone for that matter, but especially a youngster, who instinctively helps a stranger like that.  With no prodding, no urging, just his own sense of doing something right.

It all happened so fast that my wife missed it.  She was reaching down to get her purse, in anticipation of our getting out of the car.

I locked up and walked to the back of the boy's van and said to his mother, "You son just did for me a very thoughtful and helpful thing.  You should be very proud of him."

She smiled a smile that wasn't a surprise, but one of reaffirmation of her son's character.   The smile seemed to say that she knew this was who her son was.  The boy's eyes lit up as I told his mother what I thought about what he did.   He deserved every bit of praise and approval for his actions. 

In fact, I write this to celebrate the boy.

Mom nodded her thank you and I gave the boy a thumbs up and walked into the store with a bounce in my bootie, explaining to my wife what had happened.

Here's where the ironic symmetry, or basic asymmetry comes in.  We later returned to our car and loaded our stuff in the trunk.  As I went to unlock the car door, I felt something hit my leg.

It was a cart.  It had just been shoved into the cart space by an adult shopper so carelessly that it rolled into the chain and into me.    I turned, and reflexively called out, "Hey!"  The adult, a male, turned, took stock of what he had done and continued on to his car without a word.

So there it was.    All in the same spot.  A tale of two people,  a boy who behaved like a man and a man who behaved like a boy. 

The boy still made my day.