Misguided Philantrophy

Yesterday, I was out biking (as part of a summer fitness regimen) when I noticed a pair of displaced people sitting by a shopping center entrance. Just to clarify, I have terrible willpower when it comes to panhandlers, so I try to keep as far away as I can or I'll burst out in tears and give them my bank card and pin number. So anyway, I rode on by and stopped into a drugstore and spent the two bucks of cash I had on me there on a cold sport drink. The entire time, however, I was thinking that I should give the cash to the destitute folks outside instead of wasting it on my (relatively) advantaged self. My sense of thirst won out though, so I thought about it for a bit and decided I would give them a pair of bus tickets I had in my pocket (I dunno, in case I broke an ankle riding or something). They were really appreciative about it, though my internal guilt machine kept reminding me of the cool drink I had in my other hand and the bank card in my pocket. I managed to escape pretty quickly and went to have lunch at a local Mexican fast food restaurant. I came out later and hopped back on my bike and waved to them as I left, they waved back. They were pretty nice folks.

It’s weird, when I originally wrote this, I included a bunch of brand names for the things I did, almost subconsciously. I don’t really like this method of worming into people’s heads, so I edited it to take them out.

Do you also have an internal guilt machine?

Bright side.

Today i was on the local Bus system here in Livermore returning from an assessment test up at Las Positas, when I encountered perhaps the best bus driver I've met so far in my travels. A man had missed the bus in front of ours by mere moments and gotten on our bus instead, pleading his case. the bus driver, Harold immediately contacted the driver of the bus just in front of us and arranged for a quick bus switch, saving that man half an hour of his life. Harold continued on his way, amicably chatting with a passenger seated behind him. It was very nice. Quite a few of the drivers i've met are like that, though not quite as much. Wheels is a pretty good service, even if it is eating a hole in the pockets of Livermore's parents.