Strange and Shouty Thanks
January 16, 2009 · Print This Article
I am not updating to toot my own horn (I’m not comfortable with self-horn tooting) but because a few of you asked me to. So, here it goes:
I did it! I stopped and smiled at the strange, shouty man on the corner (sorry, Jake, but he IS both strange and shouty, and that is how I shall describe him), and I put something in his outstretched cup (again, none o’ your business). He said (or, rather, shouted), “Yeah! Yeah! That’s right! Ha ha! Thank you! Thank you! That’s what I’m talking about! Yeah!” And, honestly? I could tell he totally meant it.
It was kind of awesome.
I mean, it’s one thing to give annually to CFC (if you’re Fed, you know CFC), but it is quite another thing to stand face-to-face with someone on the receiving end of your contribution. Sure, it can be a little awkward and scary and outside of your comfort zone. Oh, not pee-your-pants-in-freaking-terror scary or anything, but awkward nonetheless.
But guys? It can also be kind of awesome.
So glad you did, and glad it made you feel full of awesomeness!
Did you say “Booyah!” when you dropped the money in the cup?
Aw, nice!
Way to go, Cat!!
I’m not a horn-tooter either, by nature, but we are such constant food-hander-outers-to-un-named-strangers, that no matter WHO is walking down the street, Mr. B yells, “Momma! We need to go to Old McDonalds! That person is hungry!”.
It might be something little, but at least it’s SOMETHING. We have to start somewhere, ya know.
Always nice to hear that someone starts something somewhere. Well, I mean something good. Sheesh, you know what I mean.
It feels good, right? I’m always leery of handing over money (which is not to say that you shouldn’t), so I usually try to give food. When we go to NYC we carry fresh fruit in our coat pockets or if we come across someone asking for money, we offer to go into the nearest restaurant and get them something to eat. Sometimes they decline, which is weird to me. Sure, you’re not hungry NOW, but you might be later. You don’t even want something that won’t spoil? Weird. Once we took kids to NYC and tried to show them the joy of giving food to those in need and a guy turned them away by saying that the food they were offering was full of preservatives and was unhealthy. They were traumatized. ANYWAY – way to go, you. I’m glad that you overcame your fear and did it!
When I was in London with my sister, we came out of the market and stumbled (literally) across the legs of a seated guy begging for cash right outside the door. My sister, always the giver, dropped her change into his outstretched hand, and we started to walk away. Now, we were totally unfamiliar with the fancy-shmancy, totally-different-than-ours European money and whatnot, so she had no idea how much money she dropped on the dude. Turns out, it wasn’t much, as he made painfully clear when he began to yell at her and berate her for the measly amount of change she gave him. “What am I supposed to do with THIS?!” he screamed at her. I was SO ready to go back and demand he give back the money if he was going to be such an ass, but Jenny wouldn’t let me. For her, the joy was in the giving; what he did then was up to him. But I was, as you said, somewhat “traumatized” by the experience, I have to admit.