street money
people ask for money on the streets of downtown minneapolis. you get used to it. some people just ignore them, but i don't. i stop to listen. and sometimes i give them money. i figure i at least give them the courtesy of not pretending they just don't exist. today a man approached me, and i stopped as always, but i don't think he truly thought through what he was going to say,
"excuse me sir. i just got out of jail. could you spare $2 for a bus fare?"
he started off well. "excuse me sir," demonstrated that he was respectful and kind. it's hard to ignore kindness. but then he turned around and said he just got out of jail. not sure this was helping his cause. it sent the business suit guy next to me hurrying across the street even though the orange hand was lit up. the fresh out of jail guy, wasn't scary, and he was honest. so i thought about giving him the bus fare.
but i didn't have any. some kid on a "fundraiser" got me to buy two bags of popcorn from him for $5 the previous night. he had a church business card, so i figured he was legit. or at least putting some good planning into it. kind of like the guy i gave a couple dollars to so he could get into a shelter cause he had some credentials, a st joseph's photo id card. it was then i remembered i got more cash today to buy a lunch. so i figured, it was meant to be that he get some of those dollars.
"here you go dude, hope this helps."