Tension At Culver's

A group of us were eating lunch at Culver’s after church, yesterday afternoon. 

Suddenly, we heard a commotion coming from the check-out counter. An irate customer was yelling and making a scene. The yelling continued. It was loud enough and angry enough that many of us customers in the seating area of the restaurant were looking around, whispering and wondering if this was possibly going to escalate into something more than just a verbal tirade.

Before long a police car pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and then another police car arrived, as well.

At a certain point the uncomfortable incident seemed to be over. Although I could not see the entire check-out counter area from my seat I’m fairly certain the tense encounter never advanced to any type of physical level. And, fortunately, the irate customer left without the police having to intervene.

A few moments later a very sweet young woman who works for the restaurant came around to our table with a handful of blue tokens.

She was smiling but she also seemed concerned and a bit unnerved. She said, “We are so sorry for the disturbance that happened. Please accept these tokens for a free scoop of ice cream with our apologies for the disruption in your dining experience.”

The folks from our group very quickly responded saying, “No, that’s alright. We understand things can happen. We’re fine.”

A couple of my friends attempted to put her at ease. We understood she was in no way at fault.

I said, “I’m not upset but I will take one of those tokens for the free ice cream, however.”

And everyone laughed. That broke the slight tension of the moment. And then a bunch of other folks took the tokens for free ice cream, too.

Hey, this is a pretty good rule of thumb: Even in a tense situation you should not turn down free ice cream.

What Do We Need To Remember About September 11th?

There is much about September 11, 2001 that is worth remembering. But here are two truths which stand out for me.

First, it is worthwhile for us to remember the courage and heroism exhibited by the first responders. As regular citizens were understandably running from the carnage and destruction that day, firefighters, police officers and other emergency response agents were running toward the scenes of the attack.

You might say, “Well, that’s their job!”

You are right. But it is still remarkable.

The desire of these tremendous individuals was to assist those who were hurt and needing direction as well as the prevention of further injury and death. As they engaged in this form of service they put themselves in great danger and, as we know, many of the first responders were injured and killed in the line of duty.

This kind of brave behavior is good, right, proper, exceptional, important and noteworthy. These men and women deserve our deep respect and gratitude.

Second, it is worth remembering there are still people who share the viewpoint of the terrorists who executed the attacks of September 11^th. The events of that day do not represent a historical oddity which could never happen again.

If there are serious people who genuinely desire our destruction—and there are—then a general awareness of this reality is important.

The main duty of the governmental leaders of any country is this: to defend and protect the people of the country. Obviously, the leaders have other challenging duties, as well. But if they fail when it comes to defending and protecting, can you see how the other duties become fairly inconsequential?

I pray our leaders will have great wisdom, integrity and courage. I hope you will pray for them, too.

Let’s remember the profound events of 9/11. What happened that day is still of great significance.