If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Romans 12:18

Pam’s granddaughter “Polly” is seven years old.  Her mother is African American, her father, Caucasian.  Last week in school, Polly was bullied by a classmate who pulled her hair and called her names.  Polly shared the incident with her mother and asked if she could miss school the next day.  Her mother said that she could.

When Polly awoke the following morning, she told her mother that she had changed her mind.  She wasn’t going to give that bully any power. My friend Pam and I celebrated this child’s confidence.  We all know mean people in this world who think the only way they can climb the ladder of success or popularity or wealth is to keep others on the lowest rung by preying on their lack of confidence, and even though it isn’t the same thing, this past week, Pam, and I, shopping here in Mazatlán, met a store clerk who did something similar.

Pam had purchased a pair of earrings last year but had lost one of them.  They were her favorite pair and she was determined to find them again.  The problem was, we couldn’t.

After exhausting several of the silver stores, we remembered a store where Pam previously had bought a man’s money clip and turned into an exquisite necklace. The store owners were impressed with her ingenuity. We walked there, and the owner recognized Pam immediately.  (Not me, of course, but my friend.)  When Pam saw her earrings hanging on a display, she went bonkers, telling the clerk her story, trying them on, and asking,  “How much?” “$160.00,” she was told.

“Pam, didn’t you spend $20 on those from a guy on the beach?” I asked.  “Maybe $30,” she answered.  But my friend really, really wanted them.  When the clerk reduced the price to $130, Pam handed him her credit card.  Leaving that store, we went down a side street and found the same earrings, stamped with the same silver code on the back, for $62.

Pam needed to return the ones she had bought. Could she, like her granddaughter, stick up for herself?  She didn’t know.  I told her that I would support her. James 4:17 gave me confidence: In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil.      And yes, I imagine this scripture pertains to more serious issues than earrings, but you get the point.  And since Roman’s 12 tells us to live in peace whenever possible, we would not make a scene when we asked for Pam’s money back.

Back at the original store, we were told that it was extremely difficult to return an item purchased on a credit card, the owner was making little money on this sale, the other shop—like most in Mazatlán—had stamped that code on the back, making it appear legitimate, and that this store was the only one in Mazatlán with authentic silver. However, we were “really nice people,” and the owner wanted “to do right” for us. It sounds ridiculous, but when he offered to give Pam $35 back if she kept the earrings, swearing that he now was losing money, Pam gave in.

The only honest thing that clerk said was that we were “really nice people.”

Okay, Pam is.

Mazatlán is known for its beautiful silver.  If all the other silver sellers were frauds, why didn’t the owner say that when we first discussed in front of him how much Pam had paid for her earrings? The next day, my friend and I relived what we could have done differently to get her a refund.  Except for putting up a fuss in front of the other customers and telling the owners that we’d never shop there again, sometimes just being really nice people is the best we can do. At least, that’s what we’re telling ourselves.