French the Rainbow Unicorn

Oh ma gad. Oh ma gad.

Tomorrow is party. Many people vill comink. Trouble brews like moldy potato in cold soup.

"Why not try to be more positive? Look on the bright side! Kiss the rainbow unicorn on it's hot pink lips, so to speak."

Well, maybe I will try to ,metaphorically, french the rainbow unicorn about this party idea of mine but I will need several gin and tonics to do so.

I guess this whole thing is why I have had Eddie Murphy's, My Girl Wants to Party All the Time in my head for at least a week.

Today, while going to get what turned out to be a freaking excellently tasty falafel sandwich, I saw an elderly lady who looked strinkingly like my mother, panhandling on the street. I asked her why she was begging for money. She said she does it sometimes when she doesn't have enough for rent because her pension is not enough. She said she could ask her family(her kids I presume because she said she was 73) but she felt she should be providing for them, not the other way around. I suggested that they would probably be happier giving her money than having her panhandle. She said they probably would but she prefers it this way. It's her choice.

On the one hand, I believed her and wanted to help, on the other hand I thought, why ask for money from strangers when it's not nessecary? She was a nurse for decades in California and this is what she is now? Could it be true? If she had other resources, what about people on the street who really had no other option?

I noticed that I felt more inclined to help her because she was clean and approachable and looked sane. Ironically, that would make her someone the least in need of help. Is it cynical to feel that helping someone more likely to actually improve from your help is better than giving to someone who cannot be saved? Is it prejudice to think that the homeless people living on the street are so beyond the ability to function in society, that any money given will be futile towards improving their lives in the long run? Am I an asshole for thinking that everyone should be striving to live in the normal confines of society in the first place? Surely, anyone would prefer a home of their own, if possible, to a life on the street!

Where do I lend my dollar? I wish I could consult Virginia Woolf on this one. She laid it out so well in Three Guineas on the topic of governement, education and cultural life. But what of the homeless? What can my dollar do for anyone and what's the best way to give it?