hindsight

A few days ago, while leaving a restaurant, I was stopped by a man in a wheel chair.  He saw me heading to the door and rolled up close to the exit in a way that I could not overlook him.  He appeared to be in his thirties.  He looked pretty scraggly, half-shaved, tattooed and unkept.  After he reached out to shake my hand, he gave me a hard luck story about a motorcycle accident and losing a leg.  I knew what was coming, that he wanted money.  Without hesitation I reached into my back pocket and handed him what cash I had in my pocket.

I started having regrets about it as I drove away.  I thought about my dad, how throughout his life as a paraplegic due to polio, never asked for a handout - never begged for a penny.

I can't help it, in hindsight, I don't think I did that guy any favor.