A Green Gem

So I’m at the bus stop when suddenly someone calls for my attention. There is a man, gently dangling a set of keys in front of him. He has a request, some money for a bus. Reason: his car has left him stranded and needs a way to get somewhere, home I suppose. I’m in a good mood, so I help him. Not with spare change, mind you, but with the full fare. I made the mistake of thinking I’d put myself in his position and wrongfully felt pity.
That last part may have sounded cold-hearted, but bear with me. There is more.
I get a ride home most days, and those that I don’t I take a different bus than that time because I’m going to school most days now. As such, it wasn’t until recently that I had to wait at that particular bus stop again. It should be no surprise from the tone of this rant/post/what-have-you what happened then. The same guy, in the same clothes, with the same dangling keys shows up. Not the best memory that guy. I couldn’t find anything to say, and I think the way I looked at him washed over like so much empty air. So curious that his car would break down in the same area, isn’t it?
Now, I’m not completely against begging. For some people it’s the only thing they can do. Here in my country there aren’t many programs to help people with no resources to get a start in life. Old people, children, and the people with special needs often have no access to government services or slip into legal limbo when the requirements to apply come up. Even healthy men and women may have little choice when a lack of skills and education makes getting a job, any job, almost impossible. So what am I’m getting at? That person makes it more difficult to open one’s heart to those in need because he uses deception to take advantage of the scarce goodness and pity that can be found in people nowadays. Worse even, I think it makes it even scarcer.
He should be ashamed of himself. No big chance of someone like that reading a random online blog, much less feeling sorry for being such an [connection interrupted]