Faith in the Shopping Cart Return

 

Shared on 7/30/23 

at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brevard

West Melbourne, FL

 

Faith in the Shopping Cart Return

My fellow Human Beings….

I am generally an optimist.  I believe in humanity.  

I believe we are inherently good, that we care 

about one another.  That despite the evidence 

around us of the selfishness, greed and cruelty 

of individuals, collectively we want to care for 

and connect with one another.  We are good, 

decent and kind at our core. 

But Beth?, you may ask, “What is your evidence?”.  

Dear Friends, I of course do not come to this

 conclusion without any evidence.  I am after all 

a fan of the scientific method, a person of reason 

and evidence.  So I present to you….

The Grocery Store Shopping Cart Return……

Yes, the grocery store shopping cart return, 

is my evidence for humanity’s redemption.  

Think about it.  In the middle of the parking lot is 

a parking spot…with two little rails and a sign.. 

Merely suggesting this is the place where 

shopping carts get returned.  

First of all, how nice to have a happy little home 

for the shopping carts to go to in the middle of the 

parking lot.  What a thoughtful idea to create a 

convenient space for us to put our cart, instead 

of walking all the way back in the store.  

Now the cynics among you will say, this is because 

the business wants to make sure they get 

their carts back undamaged to the store, 

but to you I say “Have a little faith”.  

Now sure, there are stores that charge you for carts, 

that give some sort of reward for returning the cart, 

and that’s fine.  But let’s set those aside for 

the moment.  The shopping cart return without rewards, 

is a true test of faith in the altruistic nature 

and salvation of humanity.  

Now to the science.  The scientific process involves 

several steps, our Observations, Questions, 

Hypothesis, Predictions, Testing and finally our 

Conclusions.  So let us begin to analyze this key 

to the Altruistic nature of humanity.    

First as we observed.  

Here in the middle of this large parking lot, we see 

the cart return, with its suggestive sign to “return” 

your cart here.  And what happens, people do in fact 

return their carts, without any threat or repercussion 

for not following those rules.  

Now perhaps there is some societal judgment, 

but no one is necessarily watching. Even without 

the consequences of hell or damnation, people 

continue to return the carts, sometimes outside the 

view of others, just because. Perhaps our Universalists 

ancestors understood this core of human nature 

when they proposed all souls were worthy of salvation.  

Now let us ask some questions.  Why do people 

return the carts, especially if there is no perceived 

consequence?  And why does it matter?  Is this 

merely because of societal pressure, or do we have 

an inner belief in doing what is right and what is kind?  

Do we perceive ourselves as merely individuals, 

or are we in fact part of a communal experiment 

called life, in which we strive to care for one another?  

Is it just a shopping cart, or is it a shared ritual 

of humanity?  What is the true nature of the 

shopping cart return?  

Let us explore further. 

My Hypothesis.

As stated earlier, I am an optimist, I believe people 

are inherently good at their core.  Much like 

our Unitarian and Universalist Ancestors, 

I believe we are both inherently good, and 

worthy of salvation.  And to this end, I believe 

we as humans will act altruistically more often 

than not when given the opportunity.     

That opportunity, my friends in humanity, is 

most simply exemplified by the Grocery Store 

Shopping cart return.  My Prediction is that 

when given the opportunity, we collectively will 

go out of our way to be kind, to care for 

one another and act collectively for one another.

And as for our experiment….

The true Test of this experiment lies in you.   

But here are a couple of scenarios to guide 

you in your experiment.  Will you return the 

shopping cart only when it’s easy.  Or will you 

make an effort to return it.  Will you return 

it when it's hot, when it’s raining, when it’s really 

far away, when you are in a hurry, when you’re 

having a really bad day, when you have to 

search for that happy little shopping cart home 

that is the cart return?  Will you make the effort 

when needed to care for humanity, or only when 

it’s convenient?  Can we be the parking lot change 

we are looking for in the world?  

There is a certain societal utopia of the shopping 

cart return, and in fact in the greater parking lot 

and store universe.  Is there bad behavior in this 

universe, of course there is.  But generally, we all 

collectively agree to respect one another in this 

greater store universe.  We greet each other 

cordially, we yield to others crossing the parking lot, 

and sometimes we even return other people’s 

carts or  let others have the good parking spots.  

We may help someone get something in their cart, 

or load groceries in their car, or perhaps give their 

car a jump if the battery dies.  And of course, 

we return our cart to the shopping cart return, 

to make that employee's job just a little 

easier that day.  Generally we have the highest 

potential to be our best selves in communities 

like the grocery store and it’s those little things 

like the cart return, that add up to create 

the biggest impact.     

So in Conclusion.  There will be rainy days, 

and busy days, and hard days and sometimes 

happy days too.  But on all the days, we can be 

good and decent and kind, and together we can 

be the shopping cart salvation of humanity.  

So remember to be kind to one another in 

small ways, and big ways, for I believe in you 

and I believe in humanity.

Thank you,