We’re a divided nation. The media tells us so. Our leaders do as well. They lecture us and tell us who we are – a people who should be ashamed of ourselves and how we need to come together.
The only problem with this is that it’s a lie. It’s not true. And Audrey Mark would tell you otherwise.
Mark was shopping at a Target in Raleigh, North Carolina when she noticed something going on down the aisle from her. She wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but she knew it was special, so she walked a little bit closer. She snapped a blurry picture with her phone to capture the moment.
A young man named Yasir Moore had come into the Target store wearing a black suit and asked employee Cathy Scott where he could find a clip on tie for a job interview that he was having later that afternoon at Chick-fil-A. She told the teen that they didn’t sell clip on ties but she found the kid a real tie and asked another coworker, Dennis Roberts, if he could help. He showed the teen how to tie the real tie, he tied it on his neck then adjusted his collar buttons and had him tuck in his shirt.
Then he taught the kid how to giver a proper handshake.
Then Scott and Roberts starting giving interview advice. They explained how the nervous teen would need to look the interviewer in the eye and talked through some of the basic interview questions that might trip him up. The young man listened and thanked them for their help.
As the kid left the store, other Target team members who saw what was going on gathered around and began to cheer him on and wished him luck, asking him to report back. In an interview, Mark, who snapped the photo and posted it on Target’s Facebook page, said, “It was a very quiet simple moment, but it was very profound… kindness… from strangers… in a Super Target.”
We don’t hear these kinds of stories in the media very much. It also doesn’t fit politicians’ narratives. But we are a people who help others. Not because we have to, but because this is who we are.
By the way – he got the job.
