Destitute..............

Today is the 21st of December and there are now only 4 days until the great Christmas event. By this time on Tuesday, the kids will have had presents, there will have been a few fights, the in-laws will have joined the party and if not already the Main Meal will be under way or about to start. Oh what joy, Oh what a cynical me!!!

And now the Rant........

On the radio today they were going on about homeless beggars and do we give them money or just ignore them. Do we offer to take them to buy food or drink?

It is usually possible to tell if someone is swinging the lead and actually earning a fortune begging.

There are a lot of people who are fairly destitute and the few coppers we have might just be a help. We are all looking at the "down and outs" as we call them in disgust, horror or pity, but not once do we ask why they are there, or how can they actually be helped? Does puting an alcoholic in prison actually help the real cause of the problem, does anyone actually look as to why that person is seking oblivion? The same goes for people on the streets.

Why are these people actually on the streets? What has hapened in their past to have caused this, have parents just thrown them out, has something more sinister happened?? What has really caused them to view this lifestyle as a better alternative?

Every single one of us are actually a lot closer to this life than we realise. We may be very poor or very rich but in reality every single person is but a step away from the streets. Fortunes can be lost very quickly, and a life alone can easily be viewed as preferable, regardless of how it can be achieved.

A while a go a beggar was outside a station in London, we all kept our heads down and walked on. And then he said something that made me stop in my tracks - he said that we ignore him, so we don't see him and as such we can deny he is real.

This statement he made, without shouting it, without anger, just as a statement was possibly the most honest thing i ever heard. I went back and thanked him for making me think. I only had a few pounds on me but i gave this him.

His answer was to thank me, he said the money was unnecessary (although i left it with him!!) for having heard him, acknowledged him, and to have realised the truth he was stating......

This man on paper had nothing, i say that he had everything because he had truly understood what is all to often felt by those more fortunate.

Today i am teetering myself, however, i am still trying because i am not yet ready to become invisible because it suits many others. I for 1 very rarely now just pass on by, cross the road or ignore, as i for 1 can now understand.

Can you???????