Grandma's Riding Shotgun!

Albeit, Grandma would prefer to drive, I'm changing my weekly blog post to "Grandma's Riding Shotgun!" since that is the "correct" colloquialism.

Good Deed for the Day, or Not

Grandma was disturbed to see the homeless Veteran on the side of the road, holding up a sign for money. She couldn't bear to look and said so herself. Her son--my uncle is a Vet and I'm sure it struck a cord with her.

I quickly pulled out a few dollars, rolled down my window and gave it to him. The Vet and I both said, "God bless you" at the same time. I know the typical story. I grew up in West Lost Angeles near MGM Studios. On one corner, it was not unusual to see a homeless person and on the next, a movie star.

The church my dad pastored was on the famed Venice Blvd. that fed into the ever so unusual Venice Beach and it was common place at services to have transients in and out of the building. We saw what would happen if we handed a homeless person cash. They would walk across the street to the liquor store and immediately spend it on their liquid of choice. My dad quickly learned how to distinguish between someone who really needed help and an addict by offering them menial work. If they took the work, he would pay them. Usually the panhandlers cursed him and moved to the church across the street.

But with Grandma in the car visually disturbed by this homeless Vet, I felt compelled to give him cash. She seemed relieved.

After her doctor's appointment and running some errands, we happened upon another corner where a middle aged, weathered woman stood holding a sign. Grandma once again was disturbed and said, "Now what's her story?"

As I quickly started pulling money out of my wallet, Grandma did the same and we both handed over our cash once again saying, "God bless you."

As we drove off, she perked and said, "That was our good deed of the day." But I take no pride in what I did. There are too many needs in our world to have one good deed of the day, I explained to her. And even if they do spend it on "liquid" maybe someday they'll turn around, decide to come clean, and remember that there was someone who cared and reached out to them, if only with a few dollars.