Do unto others?

I consider myself to be generally optimistic about life, and usually see the best in others.  I tend to think that the vast majority of people that I encounter are genuinely good and decent. 

But I'm frustrated tonight as I've been reflecting on my trip to Target with Kai and Ruby this afternoon.  I usually try to avoid trips to the store with both of them when I'm by myself because they are totally unpredictable and I never know whether everything will go just fine or if Kai will decide to exert his "independence" and express himself with kicking, screaming, crying, and whatever else it takes to call attention to himself.  Today's trip was unavoidable, however, because we had officially run out of the three major staples of Kai's diet--milk, waffles, and turkey dogs.  When I say "staples," I actually mean that these three items make up the extent of his dietary intake on a typical day.  Very impressive parenting, I know.

Anyway, I digress.  So...here we are at Target.  I'm carrying Ruby in a sling, and pushing the cart with one hand while trying to convince Kai to actually sit inside the cart.  I'm not even picky about where he sits--the seat or the big part of the cart--either would be acceptable.  But no.  Kai has decided he wants to stand on the end of the cart and hold on.  That would be okay for a normal size kid, but for someone who is still the size of a 1 year old, it doesn't work very well.  We made it a whole 20 feet inside the store, to the front of the produce section, when his grip slipped and he turned, falling face first onto the linoleum.  It was only a fall of a couple of feet (as you'll recall, he's very short), but the thud that accompanied his head hitting the floor sent my heart into my stomach.  He started wailing immediately.  I scooped him up, and saw that he had the beginnings of a giant goose egg forming right in the middle of his forehead.  In addition, blood was literally gushing out of his nose, onto his shirt, me, Ruby, and the floor.  So I'm now holding Ruby and Kai, both of whom are now screaming, and digging in my purse to find tissues to sop up the blood.  It was a pretty desperate feeling.

Not one person came up and offered to help.  There were lots of people around, but they just pushed their carts around us, and two women in particular made a noticeable effort to avoid making eye contact.  I don't really know why no one bothered to help me.  My guess is they didn't want to be bothered with it.  I don't know.  But as I've been thinking about it this evening, I just can't seem to let it go.  I hope that if I see a stranger struggling that I'll step out of my comfort zone for a few minutes and see what I can do to help.  Because in the end, we're all in this together.  I think the world would be a better place if we stepped outside of ourselves and actually gave a damn about each other.