Giving

I was back in London this weekend and on Sunday we were invited to a friend’s birthday lunch at Borough Market.  The restaurant was a beautifully converted glass house and since all the immigration rules have changed service in the food industry has improved greatly in England – the days of Basil Fawlty-esque waitering are thankfully well behind us.  As we left the restaurant full of bonhomie, a thin man wearing a cagoul and wet from the rain approached us and asked us for some change. 

“I usually have The Big Issue but they were too wet to sell,” he said as an apology.

I looked at him and realised that he was younger than me under his stubble.

“Are there no shelters that will take you?”  I said fishing in my purse for a few coins.

He explained that a shelter cost ten quid.

“What about getting a job?”

“I need an address.”

“What about unemployment benefit?”

“I’m getting that sorted I just came out of rehab…”

“Drugs or alcohol?”

“Alcohol”

He spoke well,  he didn’t grovel or pester just looked sad and wet.

We gave him what he needed to spend a night in a shelter and with a “god bless you all” he ran up the street…towards the pub. 

We lost sight of him but whether he went straight to the pub is irrelevant.  The cynic in all of us would guffaw and say how we were conned and how stupidly gullible we were. 

But what if?

What if he ran straight to a shelter had a hot meal, dried out and went to sleep knowing that strangers can be kind and that we all want him to succeed.  He may have spent every last drop on alcohol and got completely pissed in which case there is no hope for him and his days are numbered but if he didn’t maybe the next day he felt proud enough and strong enough to find a job and maybe one day he will look up those three kids of his and feel responsible enough to invite them back into his life.

I know it is a bigger problem and one not solved by randomly dishing out cash but too many people turn their backs.  You’ve got to spread it around, whatever it is you have, money, time, compassion, food  but keep the cynicism away because…what is that wonderful quote?  Never judge a man until you have walked in his shoes.

I went to bed happy, there was a chance, a slim one but a chance, that we turned someone’s life around today.

 What if?