"You're not hard up at all....."

Well Thursday was a funny day for me....

My friend who is travelling but currently lives in New York City, Ms Nora Ann Ponteland, had asked me to bring her some chocolates from the UK. I'd suggested a shopping list and had duly got one. So off I trotted to a local supermarket (other supermarket brands are available, as well). It didn't seem to cater well for chocolate maufactured in the UK, so I went to another supermarket (and I'm not necessarily advocating that one either).

Then I had to get some new trainers and buy a biology textbook. In the end I decided that the textbook, would be better procured in London town (on Friday). When I buy trainers I generally go for a particular brand (not that I'm recommending them for you - they happen to suit me nicely), so I had to do a certain amount of searching. Found a shop that sells them. Bought them.

As I was leaving the shop (and this may not be the right place for you to buy trainers, I just found the unmentionable brand of trainers there); someone who begs for money on the streets asked me for money. Although, it's probably, basic common-sense, in a way; I'm a great subscriber to the theories of Abraham Maslow.

Like my earlier blog Re: These are the Shadowlands: Rehearsal for Reality, (the works of C S Lewis) I am just not qualified to paraphrase this great man, Maslow. But my understanding is that there is a hierachy of human needs - a pyramid. At the foot of this pyramid are really basic things like food, water, shelter. When these things are satisfied, you move onto the 'safety needs' and so on. I think that the theory states that you need to satisfy one set of needs before you move on to the next. Eventually, at the top of the hierachy you get to what Maslow calls "Self-Actualisation". I sometimes think that is a nebulous concept; but, having said that I think it is really apparent, when one meets someone in a state of "Self-Actualisation".

So I tend to feel sympathy for people who beg on the streets. They may only have one life, and I would assume that "Self-Actualisation" might be a long way off for them. So my sympathy leads me to empathy.

Going back to the man begging on an Edinburgh Street on Thursday, I said in response to his request for money "Sorry mate - I'm a bit hard up myself at the moment." His response to this seemed very reasonable to me "You're not hard up at all, you just bought a new pair of shoes". And then he moved onto a rather discourteous diatribe, including rude words beginning with F, that aren't "fiddlesticks".

And whilst I didn't really want to get into a debate with my new friend there and then, I had to agree to him. I had just bought myself lunch in the pub. Then I bought some new shoes. And by now I was late for an evening do in Glasgow (an attempt to market my business, but I think that's irrelevant), so I had to get a taxi home to change into my Tuxedo.

This made me angry. Angry with myself for spending money willy nilly, and then making flippant remarks to my (possibly) vagrant friend, about being hard-up. My remark was nonsense. And also angry that the UK is the fourth (or is it fifth, now) largest economy in the world, and yet we have people on the streets reduced to begging for money.

But I know that anger with my government is a cop-out. If I feel strongly about homelessness in the UK, I am free to help them and/or petition and vote-out a government, which may be indifferent to their needs. I'm not sure how I'm going to park that anger, but I have some further comments to make.

I was in San Francisco, CA a little while ago (I'm just not hard-up - although at this rate I might soon be). People on the street who are begging, seemed to be much more polite there. I walked several blocks and spoke to a number of people who were begging for money. At that time I had not been reprimanded by the vagrant community for my flippancy, and I was carrying a loaf of bread. So I said to them "I'm a bit hard up myself, but I have this loaf of bread, would you like it?"

I can't remember how many people that I had this discussion with, but my bread was resoundingly rejected by the good vagrant community of San Fran.. I would have gladly eaten the bread, it seemed fine to me. Which made me wonder, are the vagrant community in San Fran. posh (er than me)?

Others might say there are different issues involved. But it seemed strange to me......