A Two Pfennig Lesson

A Two Pfennig Lesson

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
Mother Teresa of Calcutta

When I was about 20 years old, while stationed at Bitburg Air Base in West Germany I would volunteer during to help with collections at our small chapel on base. One Sunday I was helping pass the basket around for collections and I experienced something in my life I'll never forget.

As I was making the slow walk from back to front dow the center aisle, sitting in the pew nearest the center was an elderly gentleman who was wearing a old heavy brown suit. He was probably in his 60’s and somewhat resembled Edward Teller, his bushy eyebrows standing out. He also stood out amongst the parishoner because rarely did we see anyone over 40, and having civilians on the base wasn’t too common unless they were locals who worked on the base or someone had family visiting from the US.

As the basket was making it way from the outside aisle toward me, the elderly man grabbed the basket with his left hand, took what was in his right hand, and dropped the coins on top of mostly dollar bills or enveloped. I judgingly observed what he slowly placed in the basket; two pfennigs.

Pfennigs were to marks, euro now, as pennies are to dollars. At the time you can get three marks to the dollar, so when you do the math two pfennigs is not very much. I was thinking was a cheap guy and it was a little silly to me.

After mass, our priest Father Brian, would have dinner at his house for the group who helped at service and others who wanted to join. I smartly remarked to the group about what I saw, making a joke of it.

Father Brian kindly informed me that the individual there was a guest of a family. He was from communist East Germany where they weren’t allow to go to church and what he was doing was basically against the law. Father Brian didn’t need to say much more, the guilt was running through me pretty strong.

Early in my life that was a pretty important lesson on not judging. Our tendencies to make judgements of others on such little information stems a lot from looking at the world through our eyes and mind and not our hearts.

Two pfennig or two hundred dollars, what did it matter anyway? Here was a guy in church, so proud to be there because he couldn’t at home, feeling good to be in public and pray. If I had that day back, I’d give that old man a hug before he left the church. I only ask for foregiveness for wickedly judging someone now.