Break. My. Heart.

I take I-90 to go to and from work, and pretty much every day, on my way home, there is a (I would say a homeless person, but I'm not entirely convinced that the people asking you for money are always homeless, so we'll say ...) beggar on the Addison off-ramp. It's not always the same guy - I've seen a few different guys during the time I've been taking this route - but which ever guy it is, he will usually do the same little routine. When the light has just turned red, he's standing right at the corner with his cup or sign or whatever method he's chosen to use. As soon as cars start to accumulate and come to a stop, he slowly walks down the sidewalk trying to catch eye contact with people so he can ask them for money. He'll get several cars down, and then, when the light turns green again and they start to move through the intersection, he'll turn around, walk back up to the corner and start the whole process again. One guy that spent quite a bit of time working that ramp had one of those hand-written signs. Out of curiosity, I would attempt to take a look at the sign so I could see what it said (if it told of his situation, or promised he wasn't going to use the money on alcohol, or what have you), but the writing was so small and scrawly that I could never make out anything more than "Please Help." If I tried to look harder at the sign, he would inevitably see me looking his direction and use it as an opportunity to come straight up to my car and ask me for money. Now don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against charity, but I don't like to give money to random people on the street because you really don't know what their situation is, or what they'll be using the money for. Having said that, it is much easier to simply avoid eye contact than to actually say "no" to a person asking you for money. And this is why I never found out what the rest of the guy's sign said. I still wonder. The last week or so, though, it's been a different guy. This guy is quite a bit younger, and doesn't have a sign, just a paper cup. A couple of days ago, I was sitting on the ramp and I was a bit farther back at the light, so he didn't get all the way up to my car before the light turned green. But as soon as it did turn green, Oh My God. He was on the curb next to the car in front of me and as we passed him by, he actually got down on his knee, holding his paper cup out in front of him and looked me straight in the eye - no avoidance was possible. Never before in my life had it made me so sad to not give money to someone on the street. I realize this was probably his intention all along, but seriously! I felt the pang in the pit of my stomach. Ouch.

And in other heartbreaking news ... yesterday while all the yucky wet stuff was falling from the sky (Storm? Hah!!) and the streets were sloppy and gross, I saw the saddest thing I've ever seen in my life. A single page from a coloring book, all colored in (a little blue and purple doggie), lay abandoned or lost, slightly crumpled, and very soggy on the sidewalk around the corner from my apartment. So sad. Poor doggie.