Paul Sassone

The yarn they spin may not be real, but the fact they are begging shows their need is real.

That’s how my wife views beggars.

And she’s right.

She always backs her belief by never failing to give something to those beggars she encounters.

I have tried to learn from her and never turn away a beggar. It is, I confess, not always easy for me. I don’t have a lot of money and I have a more suspicious nature than does my wife.

The beggar who accosted me yesterday put my conviction to be generous to the test.

I was sitting in my car working a crossword puzzle as I waited for my wife to finish grocery shopping. A man leaned into the open side window and spun me his yarn.

It seems he broke off his car key in the ignition. He didn’t have money to afford a locksmith. If he didn’t move his car from the lot the police would tow it. His wife and two kids were sitting in the car. He needed bus fare to get to his mother’s house.

I told him I could give him a dollar or two.

“It’s $2.50 for each of us for the bus,” he replied.

I said I couldn’t afford to give him $10. I even showed him I only had a $20 bill in my wallet and couldn’t give him that.

“All right, then …” he said and walked away.

No “Thanks anyway,” or “Have a nice day.”

No money? I ceased to exist.

At least that was how I felt.

And I was angry. What a flimsy story. Obviously a lie.

But, was his story a lie? Keys do break off in ignitions. It could happen.

And even if his story wasn’t true, what happened to my resolve to treat the need and not to judge?

I had never gotten angry at beggars before.

And I wondered if constant exposure for the last couple of years to the mean spiritedness, selfishness and us-versus-them mentality of Donald Trump and his followers has — subconsciously, on my part —

highlighted those negative qualities in me and in Americans in general.

Have I been Trumpized?

I have to think about that.

Maybe you do, too.

—Have I been Trumpized?–