On the weekend my daughter was tasked the shopping chore of an increasingly independent young lady to venture up the road to the local supermarket.

Through the aisles of offerings she went about her list and time came to pay.

The first attempt to compensate at the self serve failed.

The second attempt under the now watchful eye of the supermarket attendant also met a similar fate.

The young gentleman next to her - not known to my daughter - saw this all transpiring and came over; tapped his card and paid for her cart and promptly left with her thanks as his only reward.

(What had happened was that our “if you need coffee when you are out for a ride” debit card had a low balance of $20 on it. The shopping totalled $24).

A story such as this can be - and usually is - lost to the waves of negative news that fill our information diets these days.

But perhaps more than ever we need to hear of these moments to remind ourselves that people are inherently good.

And that they, the quiet souls, are - in these dark days of a wretched virus that has destroyed lives, livelihoods and dreams - worthy of the greatest celebration.

We will walk past the mystery payer one day and not know that in our company is a person of great decency.

As such all we asked of our daughter was that when the time comes that she is so presented with an opportunity to define her character that she does what the gentleman did yesterday and pay it forward.

The gentleman - a perfect description in the truest sense of the word - has given to our child a life lesson unmeasurable in value.

And in his actions he has given us all a reminder that the future of this mortal soil is secure so long as he and people of his life values live amongst us.