This is beautiful! At Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse in Baltimore (their website says—among other things—that they are a “grassroots answer to the collapse of civic infrastructure”).
When I stepped up to order my falafel, I was offered the opportunity to add a soup, sandwich, coffee, tea or soda to my bill. Then a button from the basket was added to the “board.” That’s my “soup button” on the board. It seemed lonely to me all there by itself. And I wondered if I had been played for a fool. By the time I finished my lunch, others had added a sandwich and soda. I watched someone ask for the sandwich button and a BLT was delivered—no questions asked. No funny looks, no checking IRS income tax returns. Fantastic, really. When I recounted this later to some friends, the skeptics wondered if enterprising types took advantage of the altruistic basket. We decided it didn’t matter. As Pope Francis reminds us: Who are we to judge.
When I stepped up to order my falafel, I was offered the opportunity to add a soup, sandwich, coffee, tea or soda to my bill. Then a button from the basket was added to the “board.” That’s my “soup button” on the board. It seemed lonely to me all there by itself. And I wondered if I had been played for a fool. By the time I finished my lunch, others had added a sandwich and soda. I watched someone ask for the sandwich button and a BLT was delivered—no questions asked. No funny looks, no checking IRS income tax returns. Fantastic, really. When I recounted this later to some friends, the skeptics wondered if enterprising types took advantage of the altruistic basket. We decided it didn’t matter. As Pope Francis reminds us: Who are we to judge.
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