Somebody needs to stop me. My modest generosity is going to get me into trouble.<\/p>\n
If \u00e2\u20ac\u0153modest generosity\u00e2\u20ac\u009d seems like a contradiction of terms, I apologize. What I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m trying to get across is that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m an easy touch, but apparently my touching doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do a whale of a lot of good.<\/p>\n
Let me explain:<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an army of people in Las Vegas who get their sustenance by putting a hand out. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re inescapable and unavoidable, at almost every Allsup\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s convenience store in town; Better Stop generally has a few chronic beggars at the ready; some stand guard in front of Charlie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Restaurant, Traveler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cafe, and other places with walking traffic.<\/p>\n
Two nights ago, I went to gas up our car, in preparation for an early-morning trip to Santa Fe. Yes, I could have waited until morning but I realized something would prevent us from getting our foreign exchange students to the Santa Fe Railrunner station on time.<\/p>\n
So, near midnight, I drove to Allsup\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and parked at the gas pump farthest from the entrance, where four men awaited. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d barely gotten out of my car when two of the four sprinted toward me. I already knew their agenda: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can you let me have a couple of bucks because I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t eaten all day?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My car (What car? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see a car!) is out of gas and I need to get to Albuquerque because my wife is sick.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
And there are variations on that theme. The result often is that I whip out a couple of Presidential dollars, hand them over and wish them luck. Given the upcoming income tax filing deadline, I wonder if I can claim the hundreds of dollars I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve parted with, in wishing these people good luck.<\/p>\n
But this time, I tried a different tack: I drove off before they reached my car. One yelled out, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let me help you put gas in your car.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I left, wondering about the odds of meeting yet another group of hard-up men at another station. I blamed the near confrontation on the hour I had chosen. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s simply not in me to refuse helping my fellow man, regardless of the speciousness of his request. But when two of them approach me, and two more wait in the dugout, it becomes menacing.<\/p>\n
I drove to another Allsup\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, then another, where there was no one offering to pump my gas or to try to relieve me of money. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve taken to carrying Presidential coins.<\/p>\n
I have no doubt that Nancy and Debbie, tellers at the downtown Wells Fargo, know exactly what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve entered the bank for, each time they see me. I generally carry a roll of the coins to pay for meals and leave as tips. My regret, however, is that technology hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t evolved enough to allow patrons to insert those coins into machines that recognize them as real dollars.<\/p>\n
The second consideration is that when I leave them as tips, the recipients inspect them, convinced that Se\u00c3\u00b1or Cheapo has left only a couple of quarters.<\/p>\n
There are many anecdotes concerning my being asked for money. One is the request from a Santa Fe man who confronted me at a Souper Salad, asking for a meal. Like his Las Vegas counterpart (above), he also hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t eaten all day. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sure, come join us; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll buy your meal,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I said. Well, it turns out his wife \u00c2\u00ad\u00e2\u20ac\u201d or partner, or significant other \u00e2\u20ac\u201d was soon to meet him, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather have the money instead.<\/p>\n
And once, at Better Stop, a pair of well-dressed young ladies, parked at the pump, asked for gassistance, which my wife and I provided. We didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give them money; instead we handed over our active gas pump for a while. Their thanks were effusive, but somehow they stuck around the station, seeming ansty, apparently hoping we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d leave.<\/p>\n
Soon, a couple of well-dressed, athletic young college-type men left the Burger King next door carrying several bags of take-out items, joined their partners and drove off. Hmmm. I wonder if the food also came free of charge.<\/p>\n
Attending a recent mayoral forum, we heard a candidate assert that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153there are three or four people in town who go around begging.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Sorry, but the man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s count was w-a-y off. I see that number of street people almost every time I gas up or eat out downtown.<\/p>\n
I admit I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m part of the problem. I believe that etched on my forehead is the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sucker,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d visible only to panhandlers. I know of some people who simply ignore the mendicants. For me, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficult to simply walk away, and I suppose I spur their dependence.<\/p>\n
And I believe there are legions of other regular folk who find it easier to part with a few bucks than to say to the person, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sure, but I need you to do some yard work first.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Can we be sure that every coin we slip into their hands goes for the purchase and consumption of nutritious food? Is there a chance they use the money to buy booze and cigarettes? And that their daily takings far exceed what we ourselves might carry that day?<\/p>\n
As is my wont, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve advanced anecdotes and posed questions without any substantive solution. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard my share of lectures about how it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s better to let a million con men and con women take advantage of us than to let even one person go hungry.<\/p>\n
Yes, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard all that jazz before. But this week, as I pulled up to the farthest gas pump at Allsup\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and saw two much younger men making a beeline toward me, I became jittery.<\/p>\n
I wondered, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What the hell has happened in this town that has created a sea of needy people who soon get to know me, recognize my car and display no compunction about asking for money \u00e2\u20ac\u201d on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that soup kitchens and shelters do a good job in trying to stem the tide of hunger and homelessness.<\/p>\n
But sometimes it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s overwhelming. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Somebody needs to stop me. My modest generosity is going to get me into trouble. If \u00e2\u20ac\u0153modest generosity\u00e2\u20ac\u009d seems like a contradiction of terms, I apologize. What I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m trying to get across is that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m an easy touch, but apparently my touching doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do a whale of a lot of good. Let me explain: There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1485,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1484\/revisions\/1485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}