Some Kind of Grace On Presidents Day
I spend two of my working days each week operating a cash register in a grocery store, managing the flow of food stuff and the necessary financial exchange. I get to see five dead presidents (Washington on his single, Lincoln on his fiver, Jackson on his twenty, Grant on his fifty, and Jefferson on the occasional two dollar bill) every time the drawer opens. There are two founding fathers there, too, Franklin and Hamilton.
Much like the holiday we’re experiencing today, it’s always an opportunity to briefly focus on some of the important people in our history, a chance to just stop and reflect on how we’ve come to be. I don’t see any women, of course, though there are some plans for Harriet Tubman to replace Jackson. These plans are on hold right now by the current administration, but may yet come to pass.
I need to have all the heads of these dead presidents and founding fathers pointing to my right in the cash drawer. I can’t stand it when they’re to the left, so I rearrange them. Heaven forbid I open the till and some are facing each way. It’s just out of control. I don’t know if that’s some right-hand dominance thing, but I always feel better when the heads are in the right direction.
We all have our quirky ways at the registers. Some cashiers actually prefer having the heads to the left, if you can even imagine that. I also have to move the little tape dispenser over because I’ve nicked my knuckle on the cutter twice, once while a customer was right there in front of me and I had to apply direct pressure with a hastily ripped piece of paper towel, all while completing the transaction. I have a little piece of wet paper towel that I can use to dampen my dry fingertips in order to count back bills. Currently I have my little pocket sized volume of Thoreau’s essay on Walking close at hand for dipping into between customers. I have a little spiral notebook to scribble thoughts down. Other cashiers have different rituals.
I was warming up my coffee today and I realized that this work is about bringing gratitude to an array of situations every day, over time, and seeing what happens, what turns up. Ultimately, it’s about another way to pay attention, not unlike our national holiday today. The presidents in a cash register drawer is about as commonplace as it gets, until you pay attention to it a different way.
Is this paying attention a kind of prayer? Is this my own current idea of prayer? Prayer updated, version 66.1? Whatever prayer is, this may be like it. Mary Oliver said she don’t know exactly what a prayer was, but did know how to pay attention. Working gratitude is a kind of paying attention. Pay attention, then simply give thanks for being alive or that we live in interesting times, as the Chinese proverb goes.
Rachel Carson wrote that “The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” Pay attention, also, for just a little longer to the stuff you hold in your hand every day and take for granted. It’s all an opportunity for some kind of grace.
