The Devil's Devil's Advocate
"Giving Change..."
Allow me to get into character.
Deep Breath...
Scene...
I pull into the parking lot of one Houston's favorite restaurants. My friend, a filmmaker living in L.A., is visiting Houston so he agrees to meet me there. For namesake, it is Frenchy's Chicken found in 3rd Ward (south Houston). For your sake, imagine you are pulling into Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in L.A., Popeye's Chicken throughout the south, or Famous Fried Chicken up north. The lines are long. This original Frenchy's spot has a drive thru and a series of walk up windows for ordering just in front of the outside dining area. My mouth is salivating. I already know that I'm copping the "King's Special", 5 juicy pieces of spicy fried chicken, a few spoonfuls of dirty rice, and your drink of choice. I go for the strawberry, or red, because that's usually my mindframe when I arrive there. MESSAGE.
"Can you spare some change so that I can get sumn to eat, Sir," I hear. I turn to see an elderly man with a swollen stomach extending his hand. The hand is full of change.
"I won't give you money but I will buy you something to eat." I return.
"Good, can you get me the King Special?" He asks.
I'm amazed. He skipped clean over the 3 piece wing special and went for the king on the list. "I'll get you a wing special."
"Okay, can I get a Coca Cola with that?" I'm amazed all over again.
Mind you, I'm going to be out of an extra $4 by applying the rule that I use. I could've just given him a dollar and been done with it but I didn't.
My order is finally placed. The lady hooks my bag up with the napkins, forks, and the food. The man is waiting right there for the food. I separate everything, he thanks me, and he's on his way down the street. I can see him eating before he gets out of the parking lot.
Chris states, "Man, I told you that I'd split it with you. He hit me up for busfare on the other side of the parking lot."
"What?"
"Yeah man. I was wondering where he was trying to go on a bus at this time of night."
That irks me.
Five minutes into our dinner, a gentleman walks across the lot. Guess who? You guessed it. The beggar is back. He begins to ask other people for busfare and food. Now I'm really bothered. I don't typically give money because people might use it for other recreational items. Then I buy the food and he continues to beg all night. I don't know. This man might've gone down the road and dumped the rest of the food. He could've had 3 King's Specials that night. Now I feel like a fool. It's not the first time for me. I've had other people stand between me and the drive thru window while asking for money. When I told them that I'd buy food, they said that they didn't want the food. For some reason, it always happened at a chicken place. One guy told me that he'd prefer Mc Donald's. Brotherman, you're obviously not very hungry at all.
Talk to me. Do you give change to the "homeless"? Does it bother you that it might be spent on liquor or drugs? Do you prefer to give and let God handle it?
Next blog..."Would you tell?"
Tieuel Legacy! aka Shawnre'
Posted By: Tieuel Legacy
Saturday, October 25th 2008 at 6:44AM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
