A Life Changing Decision

A Life-Changing Decision.

Early one morning, Julie sat in her locked bedroom in the small unit she shared with Mary, her flatmate. She needed some privacy, and while Mary always knocked on the door before entering, Julie wanted to ensure she didn’t have to respond to the knock. She knew that Mary would understand that the locked door meant alone time for Julie, and she would allow this to happen without hesitation. When sharing a home, it is important for both residents to respect each other’s me-time, and this had always been the case since they moved in together twelve months ago. Julie had a lot to deal with, and the recent criminal misdeed was weighing heavily on her mind. She couldn’t let go and move on after the bad choice she’d made at the local shopping centre.

When Julie was walking through the Mall, she looked at the items she could see displayed in the various stores. She was able to see the clothes, jewelry, and appealing household items in the various shops. She knew that the cost of the products would be way beyond her reach, and she had to spend her government benefit on the essentials, which included her share of the rent and other regular bills, as well as the petrol she needed for short trips around the town. Julie had lost her job in a local café due to a decrease in customer numbers, and the business facing bankruptcy. Her life was on hold and very restricted. There were no more outings to restaurants, movie theaters, or musical shows, which had been a big part of her life away from work. When the opportunity came up to alleviate the negativity, she didn’t hesitate.

Julie decided to treat herself to a coffee, and she walked into the café. People were sitting, enjoying the time spent with family and friends, or sitting alone, looking out at the busy street below, from the Mall’s top floor. Julie saw an empty table and started to walk towards it when she saw a lady following a young child. She had left her table unattended to get her daughter, who was heading toward the cashier desk. As she focused on her child, the mother had left her handbag on the floor under the table. Without hesitation, Julie picked up the bag and hurried out of the café without drawing attention from the other customers. She went down to the bottom floor and headed to the car park. She had got away with theft without any remorse, and she hoped it would relieve the pressure she had been under since she had lost her job. She drove home, entered her unit, went back to her bedroom, and sat on her bed while she opened the bag.

Julie found a purse with a credit card, and she knew that she could use it to purchase goods under $100 without a PIN number. She would go shopping tomorrow for the luxury goods she believed she deserved after a long time of missing out.

The next morning, she parked the car near the Mall, and an amazing thing happened as she was about to get out. She saw the lady whose bag she had stolen walking down the street, pushing her child in the pram. The child was crying, and Julie realised that her demeanour was reflecting her Mum’s reaction to having her bag and credit card stolen. Julie knew that she had to return the bag and forget about the overwhelming need to treat herself with unnecessary luxury goods. She waited for the Mum to walk up to her and put the credit card in the pram before hurrying away. She planned to return the bag to the café, hoping that the worker could return it to the Mum if she visited again. The thought of the young Mum finding her bag had been stolen as she was looking after her child left Julie with feelings of guilt and remorse. Seeing the Mum again in person put a face to what she had done to another person.

These feelings remained with her through the night, and as she sat alone in her bedroom, she knew what she had to do to try to make amends. She found a card in her desk drawer and wrote a message under the floral image inside the card. The message read, “I’m sorry for the terrible thing I did to you, and I wish you all the best.” She planned to buy some flowers on the way to the café and put them in the bag. Julie hoped this apology might go some way towards releiving the terrible guilt she was feeling and help her to move on. This would mean looking for a new job and fixing the financial position she was currently facing every day. While she had applied for work to cover the regulations placed on people on the benefit she had not put much effort into it. She picked up her laptop and started looking for jobs online, and she found a vacancy for a waitress in a cafe one hour’s drive from home. Julie applied for the job and other openings in local cafes with a detailed resume and two references. But this wasn’t the only decision she made, and during the following week she researched counseling courses that would help her move on in her career.

Julie had always wanted to help people who were struggling with issues that negatively impacted their lives. She knew that a career as a counselor would not only provide financial security but also be a rewarding experience in her life. Her decisions saw her working in a local café while attending the local TAFE to complete a counselling course. Mary, her flatmate, supported her as she moved on with her life and found positivity in supporting other people instead of always focusing on herself. The terrible decision in the café had made her realize that it was essential to do the right thing and refrain from hurting other people. She found out that the lady had got her bag back, and she hoped the message and the gift had made a positive impact and helped alleviate the suffering she had caused when she should have known better.