I know people who've lived in PNG and Africa who call this LegoLand, because it's so clean and neat and pretty.
Even people in the lower socio-economic bracket live comparatively well, housed and fed and dressed.
Today, on my way into the chemist on a Good Deed trip, I saw a man sitting on the pavement holding up a sign, hand-written on a piece of cardboard.
HOMELESS
it said.
PLEASE HELP.
The man was clean, sober, friendly, well-spoken. I handed him all the money I had, which wasn't much, and he looked me in the eyes, and said, "Thanks, Love. I appreciate it."
I guess some of you have seen this before. I haven't. Not like this.
And yeah, I know, maybe the guy was scamming. Maybe his thing is to sit around in the streets and ask strangers for money, but in itself that's still terribly sad, and to be honest, it doesn't matter to me.
I can be plenty judgy, don't get me wrong. I am not Mrs Big Heart, and I have a deep reserve of cynicism for much of the human race.
But sometimes, the value of money doesn't lie in it's dollar value.
Some time earlier this year, I was approached in the car park of Woolies, in my suburb. A suburb where I was unaware there was a homelessness problem. He asked if I had any change? I handed him the $3 I had because I think I was a bit like you - shocked. I was talking to someone from our local area not long after and she told me there was quite a high incidence of homelessness in our suburb. The things you don't see are often the ones that are the saddest. Good on you!
ReplyDeleteAdelaide is full of homeless. We see their rolled up blankets etc in the forks of trees, under bridges, behind fence, all left there as they go about their day, then return at night to their chosen sleeping place. There are even a couple of tent camps in the parklands.
ReplyDeleteYou're a good egg. x
ReplyDelete