Now That the Fireworks Are Over

...and a happy new year 2010. Yes indeed a happy new decade too for that matter. There's something about round numbers that appeals to me, a slight appreciation of some sort of order, a conservative bent that appreciates things being tidy. It doesn't take long though, and the joy of messing things up, kicking the house of cards down if you will returns. I fluctuate it seems, thank goodness.

The question of new years resolutions raises its foolish head around about this time. Like many, I don't participate in this peculiar tradition, because I think if you want to commit to some sort of plan for your life you should do it whenever you damn well please, rather than time it with the calendar. I mean, say you have a good idea for yourself in August, why wait till January?

But perhaps, surprisingly, I have taken an interesting step towards a deeper appreciation for my fellow humans. Yesterday, I was in the city as I find the scene of busy shoppers and poor weather beguiling. There are usually many folk on the sidewalks requesting a donation from the passing foot traffic to help finance their desire to escape a life of financial strife, usually detailed in scrawled text on a piece of hurriedly ripped cardboard. Now I don't generally participate in the donation process for these people, my cynical mind suggesting that they probably won't spend it on the operation for their daughter they articulated on the grubby cardboard sign. In the usual style of the white collar bourgeoisie I seem to have found myself a part of, I presume the coin I toss into the poor souls hat will be liquidised that night and consumed, heaping further sorrow upon the sorrow. Instead my crumpled fiver tends to go to the big issue vendor for the following reasons:

- It's actually a pretty good read.
- It took some effort for the vendor to take action to improve their financial situation this way.
- The vendors are quite happy to chat, and are rather interesting people.

Whether it is making a difference to their lives, I'm unsure, but I do hope so.

However, yesterday something peculiar occurred. I gave an embarrassingly small amount of money to a chap who was not a BI vendor. Like many of the others, he too was sitting on the sidewalk leaning against a wall with a grubby hat in front of him soliciting donations. He didn't have a piece of woe enscribed cardboard in front of him, but instead was reading a book about engineering in Victorian era Britain. It was no picture book either, it was quite tome-like. I hoped the tinkling of the coins into his hat would not break his concentration.

I quite liked the idea that by giving the chap some loose change he may decide to continue to read. It's a good idea that charity can broaden the minds of recipients and those who fork over the readies at the same time. I'm not sure if I'll donate again, but perhaps I will if I see other street people ensconsed in the joy of the written word.

All the best.