Yesterday I had a couple of errands to run in the morning. Ciaran and Dela were at camp so I only had August, Xavier and Tevye.
One of those errands involved going to the bread outlet store.
Shamelessly stolen from Google Maps
Thing is, we don’t get to go there often because it really is pretty out of the way. Since we were headed to the south end of the city I decided to swing by and pick up some cheap (day old) bread.
So there I was with August, Xavier and Tevye in the bread outlet store.
It wasn’t crowded, empty of customers actually, fortunately, because Tevye kept slipping out off my grasp. At least he was mostly trying to dance instead run off (which he usually will do).
We got our breads and wound our way to the check-out. I had to have both hands free, so Tevye was a couple of feet away from me dancing. August and Xavier were completely oblivious to their surroundings.
Suddenly there was somebody behind me in what was an empty shop. He smelled of cigarettes, beer and…. whatever else. It was obvious he was homeless.
He asked for fifty cents to buy a loaf of bread as he did not have enough.
Where did he come from? What was he doing in the store with a loaf of bread in his hands if he didn’t have enough to buy it?
I looked at the cashier trying to get a read on her take on the situation. Was this a regular who caused trouble?
When I didn’t get any sort of feedback from the cashier immediately I decided to just go ahead and buy the guy’s loaf of bread for him.
He thanked me and the cashier was nice enough but I still couldn’t get a read from her about this person. Doesn’t matter. I wanted the kids to see me buying this man a loaf of bread. It doesn’t matter what his circumstances are, he was obviously in a much worse position than we are.
I wanted my kids to see me buying this man a loaf of bread. It was a simple act, one that cost me only $1.50, and maybe this guy was scamming me, but it was more important to give this guy a little bit of help in the small way I could.
I wanted to set that example. When in doubt, help out.
Better to help somebody who does not need it than not help somebody when needed.