Today I gave away my gloves
I don't know what made me take the 1st Ave South exit from the West Seattle bridge - all week I have been staying in the left lane and following everyone else moronically to the I-5 onramp. I guess I just got tired of it. Or maybe there was another reason.
As I came down the exit ramp, I got into the right hand lane - there were no cars there and 5 in the other lane - and there's always a bum holding a sign begging on the left hand side of the ramp.
As I pulled into position I took a look at the man holding his sign (which I couldn't read, and they all say the same thing anyway), and I could not believe he was bare-handed. It was 30 degrees this morning and I had to scrape the windows to get out of the driveway. I'd been in the car with the heater running for 15 minutes and I was still wearing gloves (my new pink ones).
I was taught to never give a beggar money - instead take him to a restaurant and buy him a meal. Well, I couldn't do that from two lanes away - but I could give him the spare pair of gloves I keep in the car for "just in case". They were nice woolen knit gloves with little leather pads, and they had long cuffs on them so they go up the sleeve to help keep the cold at bay.
The next car over helped me get his attention as I waved the gloves out the window yelling "Sir! Sir!" over traffic on the Spokane Street viaduct overhead. He thanked me as he skedaddled back to the curb.
The man may not be able to hold down a job and obviously chooses to stand by the side of the road holding a cardboard sign. But the man should at least be able to do it in comfort on a cold morning. In all good consciousness I could not just drive by without giving him something he needed which I had to spare.
I am going to buy another pair of gloves for my car, "just in case".
As I came down the exit ramp, I got into the right hand lane - there were no cars there and 5 in the other lane - and there's always a bum holding a sign begging on the left hand side of the ramp.
As I pulled into position I took a look at the man holding his sign (which I couldn't read, and they all say the same thing anyway), and I could not believe he was bare-handed. It was 30 degrees this morning and I had to scrape the windows to get out of the driveway. I'd been in the car with the heater running for 15 minutes and I was still wearing gloves (my new pink ones).
I was taught to never give a beggar money - instead take him to a restaurant and buy him a meal. Well, I couldn't do that from two lanes away - but I could give him the spare pair of gloves I keep in the car for "just in case". They were nice woolen knit gloves with little leather pads, and they had long cuffs on them so they go up the sleeve to help keep the cold at bay.
The next car over helped me get his attention as I waved the gloves out the window yelling "Sir! Sir!" over traffic on the Spokane Street viaduct overhead. He thanked me as he skedaddled back to the curb.
The man may not be able to hold down a job and obviously chooses to stand by the side of the road holding a cardboard sign. But the man should at least be able to do it in comfort on a cold morning. In all good consciousness I could not just drive by without giving him something he needed which I had to spare.
I am going to buy another pair of gloves for my car, "just in case".
posted by Wendy Hughes-Jelen @ 10:36 AM
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