So I hear a knock at my door and open it to find a 10-year old boy and his father standing on my steps with rakes in their hands. They ask if they can rake the leaves in my yard…I have a lot of leaves in my front yard.
Now, back up. Last year, I let a homeless guy with no legs rake my leaves and paid him and gave him some food. He did a great job and I was happy to help him by having him help me. He came back another time and did some more raking. Then I had another guy come and do several things for us in the yard over the summer. Then other random guys started knocking at my door, looking to do yard work for me. It got to be too much, so we decided that I shouldn’t let anyone do our yard work. It sucked having to tell everyone no when they came calling, but it seemed like the only thing we could do.
So now my immediate response when someone comes to my door is—no thanks. It turns out that these two who showed up today are my neighbors across the intersection. Their son is somewhere in the continuum of autism. He was upset when I said no to them…and I immediately felt like crap. Then I saw them go across the street and do another neighbor’s yard. I am pretty sure they aren’t asking for money—the kid just wants to rake leaves. So now I feel like the worst, most insensitive human being in Shandon…and I am sure there could be a really hot contest for those honors in this neighborhood.
So, what has happened? Where did I lose my humanity? Where along the line did money and fear overtake my openness and belief in the general goodness of people? Merry Christmas, Uncle Scrooge!
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