This week I was one of the lucky ones. My visit to the supermarket happened to coincide with a fresh delivery of toilet rolls and my timing was perfect. Like piranhas circling a wounded animal, customers hovered while the shop floor assistant attempted to stack the shelves. It was a pointless exercise. As fast as he unpacked them, they were gone in a feeding frenzy worthy of any nature documentary.
It just goes to show that despite appearances we’re not as nice as we might like to make out. It doesn’t take much for our selfish genes to come to the fore and provoke a me-first attitude.
Perhaps we should add the words of St Paul to the top of our shopping list. He urges us to ‘do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.’
How refreshing it would be if instead of needlessly stockpiling our homes with a lifetime’s supply of loo rolls, we could look first to the needs of those around us.
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