Anyway, I'm walking to the station and see a man about 100 feet up ahead sitting on some church steps asking people for money. I obviously have more than enough time to discern his motivation and prepare my answer before I get asked myself. But just as he is about to ask the daily question, I notice a dime a few feet away from his feet. He would have had to get off the stair and take one step to reach it but no one would have been able to stay in the area for more than 5 seconds and not notice it. Obviously he had been there since I saw him 100 feet away.
So, I bend down and pick it up.
"Hey, man. Can I have that dime?" reaching out with his hand.
"Mmmmm. I don't think so. You should have picked it up a long time ago."
"Hey...come on... come on.........." I walk away. I gave it to someone else.
Now you might think he was blind, but I will remind you that he knew it was a dime.
You might think it was too bright outside, but this all takes place under shade.
You might think he just didn't look downward ever, but his head and gaze would fall in between each passerby.
You might even think I was the subject of some psychological or sociological test, since the dime was almost directly in front of him in a highly improbable situation, but his shoes and pants were nicer than mine and one of the controlled factors would have been to dress their point man in shabbier clothes...
Well, I know I'm judging (a weakness I have) but that's got to be either laziness on his side or greed on mine...
This reminds me of that story where a man is late for a job interview and passes a beggar asking for money on the way. "Ya have any spare change?" Since he really wants this job (and needs some good karma coming back his way to make up for his tardiness) he flips the beggar a quarter. The quarter takes a funny direction, bounces, roles and settles a few feet away from the beggar. The man rushes on to his interview but a half hour later comes back the same way beaming with hope that his charitable act towards the beggar will be reciprocated shortly. On the way back, he then sees the same beggar walking on the other side of the street smoking with some buddies and the quarter lying in the exact same position it was a half hour ago. He picks up the quarter and goes off looking for the newspaper and the classifieds again.
It's supposedly true. I believe it now.
