Giving

Day two of this blogging lark...wonder how many days I can keep this up. Not too early to rise today. It's cold out there. No snow yet, but it's clearly on the way. Quick breakfast and a check of the emails and then into the shower. Plenty of time before the ambulance calls to take me to physio. "Knock Knock!" just as I begin to clear the lather away. Damn!!!..."be down in a minute"...scrambling as best I can to get dressed half wet...it's so hard to pull on those socks...thank goodness Keith, the driver is so understanding.

Physio for me works on a couple of levels. It helps me to understand those subtle exercises I need to work on that will help restore my muscular strength. And it's also a chance to meet some people at the same time. Most of the clinic is made up of older men, much older, by twenty years or more. One attendee is Johny, who happens to know my brother. He had a stroke several years ago and is slowly learning to move again. He is wheelchair bound but has a positive spirit about him.

After physio I get Keith to drop me off in town to do a couple of messages. It's when I am walking down the street that I say "Hello" to a lady who is apparently waiting at the bus stop for her connection. She smiles and asks"Are you all right" I respond saying "I'm fine, It's just that my legs don't work so well"....."Mind yourself" she says in a friendly sort of way" and I continue my walk.

Within a minute the lady is walking beside me telling me how she has just lost some money. Being the Good Samaritan (mug,fool,eejit...put in your own word) I offered her a couple of pounds to see her on her way. You would. wouldn't you? She then continued her journey, at a faster pace in front of me.

I popped into a friends then for a quick cup of tea and related the story. "Oh! That wee woman. Sure, she's at that all the time. She's usually at the door of the local supermarket tappin' everybody. She's been doing it for years. Probably making a fortune!"


It was largely what I expected to hear. Would it put me off giving to someone who asks for such help again. I doubt it, because which of us knows when we might find ourselves in similar plight. So the lady was "tappin" me on a semi professional basis. Her need for cash was so great that she dispensed with that layer of pride and self respect most of us would adopt. Maybe it's what keeps her alive.

Despite the hype that abounds that we are a self centred society there are people out there who are prepared to give when asked. There's the wonderful example in our local news over the last week, where when a disabled boy's van, his only means of transportation was stolen and destroyed in a violent attack. The original story disgusted many. Within days the story had a happy ending when a coach hire company provided the family with a replacement. Well done Chambers Coach Hire.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/ni/northern_ireland/6340397.stm