I stumbled out of my car in a parking garage downtown to find a man (who appeared literally out of nowhere) with his hands up in the air. (I am guessing this is the universal sign to indicate you aren’t bearing arms.) He mumbled something that I couldn’t understand, but managed to hear the word, “money”. I am no linguist, but I could surmise that he was hopeful I would cough up a few dollars to assist with his personal financial situation. I pulled out $9 from my pocket (Who carries cash these days, right?) and handed him a 5 dollar bill. I had reserved the last 4 dollars during my quick mental accounting that had occurred while handing him the 5 and consulting the fee structure sign inside of the parking garage. He then uttered, in a much more refined manner, “The train costs $8.” - I was at a crossroads. Do I cough up ALL 9 of my paper dollars or do I simply encourage this man to be appreciative that he was more than half way to his $8 goal from his fundraising efforts? Guilt is a terrible thing… I handed over another 3 dollars resolving that I would be moving the car from inside the parking garage and driving around and around in downtown Seattle on a Saturday night to try and find street parking. (This is a sport in itself) As I turned to walk to the car this man then said, “I don’t have a coat.” (I was wearing a blue rain slicker as the weather was uncooperative last night in Seattle.) What was next? Would he need my shoes, my backpack or even my car? - As privileged as I am and as down on his luck as this man was, I simply couldn’t give up my coat and said, “I’d like to keep my coat. Can you ask someone else for theirs?” I fumbled with the key to unlock the door (Yes, my electronic key opener is on the blink- Mental reminder to get it fixed flashing through my head at this VERY minute). And thus the search for street parking began…..
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