Extra Cole Slaw and Other Magic We Can Make for Democracy Today

After I got the parking space, blessed the parking app with permission to charge me $5 dollars, checked the time to ensure I had enough of it, I walked into Kinko's to pick up a print job.

The curly-haired woman at the counter brought me the cardstock pages I’d printed in a plastic sleeve.

Want a bag? she asked.

That would be great, I said. But let me see if I have five cents for it.

I looked in my wallet. I had three pennies, a paper clip, a rusted safety pin, a Get Out of Jail Free Card, and a tiny fossil from the desert of northwestern India that I’ve carried since 2008.

But not five cents.

Well, let’s see, I said sheepishly, how about a paper clip?

The woman behind the counter grinned.

And then she did this thing that I want to remember to do more of. She leaned in, gave a conspiratorial grin, and using the power she had to add or subtract from my day, she whispered, “It’s ok,” and slipped a paper bag out from under the counter.

Like the waiter who brings extra cole slaw, no charge.

The driver who surprises you by letting you in when it would have been faster and easier for them to plow ahead.

The person at the Post Office who runs after you because they thought you might have left your keys on the counter, and even though they weren’t your keys, what a show of care to go chasing after you.

All these pockets of power we have that can be put to work making the moment a little better for someone else.

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I know we want to make things a lot better. I know we want politicians to use their power to really shake up the bad stuff and fortify the good stuff. I also know that politics runs downstream of culture, and we each have a hand in the culture we’re creating, whether it’s one that adds to or subtracts from the days of others.

I carried the Kinko’s bag back to the car, placed it on top of a towel I’d used to clean my muddy dog, knowing the print job was protected.

I gave a silent thanks to the woman behind the Kinko’s counter. Wished for her that others use their power to lighten her load. And wished for me to remember to do the same.