The first part of this blog doesn't really stand on its own without the back story,so hang in there. Earlier in the week I was loading groceries into my rig and a man rides up on a bicycle and says he needs to get the bus to Seaside. At first I wasn't certain why he was telling me this and gestured to the nearby bus shelter,he then asked if I could give him a dollar for the bus. In my defense I am generous with charities and have been known to help people even if there wasn't a tax break in it for me,but the back story will explain my reaction when we get to that point. The man had my attention now and I noticed that he seemed shaky and was sweating when it was still early in the day and cool,with that thought in mind next I wondered why he would need the bus to Seaside? If he was broke why wouldn't he just ride the bike,it is only around 12 miles from where we stood. From that I deduced he was being less than honest with me about why he wanted the money,which prompted me in return to be less than honest with him and say I didn't have a dollar.
Okay,here is the promised back story! In the mid 1970's I was working as a cable splicer in downtown Portland. I was being taught by Jack,a man beyond retirement age that would only work with people of his choosing,on jobs equally of his choosing. Jack was the kind of person that you couldn't be around without learning something from him, as he had a lot of knowledge to share and shared it with great humor. One of the tricks he used to pull on his wife when he told her goodbye in the morning was to whisper a line from a nursery rhyme so she would think of him throughout the day,of course by the time he returned home in the evening she was so mad at him for planting that line in her head it is a wonder she didn't poison his dinner. Jack was always adamant about not giving money to the street people that were abundant in the areas we worked in,he said if you gave one of them money the word got around and they would all follow you around asking for money. So you can imagine my surprise when one day as we were walking to a spot to have lunch a man approached him and asked for money for a bottle of booze,then explained that he had jumped off the Burnside Bridge the night before and now everyone wanted him to do it again and he needed to get drunk in order to be able to jump. Jack pulled out his wallet and gave the man $5. I was standing there with my mouth open wondering what just happened when Jack explained that the man had told him what he really wanted the money for instead of the usual line about a cup of coffee or a sandwich. The moral of the story is,honesty really is the best policy!
Okay,here is the promised back story! In the mid 1970's I was working as a cable splicer in downtown Portland. I was being taught by Jack,a man beyond retirement age that would only work with people of his choosing,on jobs equally of his choosing. Jack was the kind of person that you couldn't be around without learning something from him, as he had a lot of knowledge to share and shared it with great humor. One of the tricks he used to pull on his wife when he told her goodbye in the morning was to whisper a line from a nursery rhyme so she would think of him throughout the day,of course by the time he returned home in the evening she was so mad at him for planting that line in her head it is a wonder she didn't poison his dinner. Jack was always adamant about not giving money to the street people that were abundant in the areas we worked in,he said if you gave one of them money the word got around and they would all follow you around asking for money. So you can imagine my surprise when one day as we were walking to a spot to have lunch a man approached him and asked for money for a bottle of booze,then explained that he had jumped off the Burnside Bridge the night before and now everyone wanted him to do it again and he needed to get drunk in order to be able to jump. Jack pulled out his wallet and gave the man $5. I was standing there with my mouth open wondering what just happened when Jack explained that the man had told him what he really wanted the money for instead of the usual line about a cup of coffee or a sandwich. The moral of the story is,honesty really is the best policy!
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