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This morning I picked up a truckload of windfall wood cut in rounds from a buddy of mine.
On the way home, I see a guy on the streetcorner, with his cardboard sign, "Will Work For Food". He's in his 20s, looks in decent shape.
Now, I worked in Downtown Seattle for a couple of years, and I have seen plenty of beggars, and I know better than to give them cash and would normally just drive on by.
But 'tis the season and all, and I've seen my share of tough times, so I pull over and offer to buy him breakfast and pay him $20 for an hour's worth of log splitting. I have a hydraulic splitter, so it's not back-breaking work like if you had to chop them with an axe.
He just waves me off. "I can make more right here," he says. I shake my head and drive away.
Well, after I split the logs myself, I went to pick something up at a nearby hardware store. Sure enough, lined up outside are half a dozen guys of hispanic descent, and whenever they see someone coming out with a load that looks like it would be for a home improvement project, they run up to them and ask for work to do. Not a cardboard sign in sight.
There's a moral in there somewhere. Sorry for the rant.
On the way home, I see a guy on the streetcorner, with his cardboard sign, "Will Work For Food". He's in his 20s, looks in decent shape.
Now, I worked in Downtown Seattle for a couple of years, and I have seen plenty of beggars, and I know better than to give them cash and would normally just drive on by.
But 'tis the season and all, and I've seen my share of tough times, so I pull over and offer to buy him breakfast and pay him $20 for an hour's worth of log splitting. I have a hydraulic splitter, so it's not back-breaking work like if you had to chop them with an axe.
He just waves me off. "I can make more right here," he says. I shake my head and drive away.
Well, after I split the logs myself, I went to pick something up at a nearby hardware store. Sure enough, lined up outside are half a dozen guys of hispanic descent, and whenever they see someone coming out with a load that looks like it would be for a home improvement project, they run up to them and ask for work to do. Not a cardboard sign in sight.
There's a moral in there somewhere. Sorry for the rant.