Butthead’s Beat: Richer for being poorer

OCTOBER is going to be a lean(ish) month as I stretched the budget somewhat on beggars in September.

But it didn’t break the bank and I actually felt good doing it… mentally and physically.

As promised in this column a month or so ago, the experiment was to follow the example of acclaimed media personality Dr Sarah Britten (who Barry Ronge famously referred to as ‘Hitler with tits’, for some unknown reason) and give R5 to every person one comes across, particularly at street corners, for a month.

The beggar-intensive intersection at Oribi Mall proved particularly pocket-sapping as there’s no alternative route to the Herald and then home. Nevertheless, it was a very interesting exercise, particular as I took time to speak to a few of the beggars to find out how they had fallen on hard times.

Common sense tells us that begging can only be demeaning, embarrassing and certainly not one’s first choice of work. Sympathetic souls are few and far between. Most people merely ignore a beggar, others are resentful, downright rude and even aggressive at times.

As an example, I stopped for a brief moment to chat to a guy with one leg. He told me he had lost it in an accident. Suddenly, hooters from cars behind me were blaring as the arrow to turn right into Marine Drive had turned green. I just had time to drop a coin in his hand and took off. I let the motorists behind me pass and I could feel the dagger stares.

Most beggars just shrugged and said they just couldn’t find a job and they were hungry. There were no tell-tale signs that they were alcoholics or drug addicts, but one never knows.

There was one chap at Tweni traffic lights who said he was from the North West. He was a qualified mechanic, but couldn’t find work there. However, his ruddy complexion did point to some sort of substance abuse and he had moved on by the next day.

I confess I did not give R5 to the same guys every time I passed them at Oribi Plaza, sometimes three or four times a day. But I tried to stay true to my experiment.

Excluding car guards (who sort of serve a purpose in most cases), between the South Coast and Scottburgh, during the month of September, I found myself R525 out of pocket.

Many will probably scoff at my experiment and call me a ‘sucker’, ‘stupid’, ‘encouraging more people to beg’, etc, etc. But I don’t regret blowing the money for one moment.

I don’t smoke and cutting down on luxury foods and booze can only be good for me.