Yesterday as I came out of my local department store those evil little girls hocking their evil and sinfully good cookies accosted me. You know the ones I mean, the ones that belong to that weird cult where they dress in silly uniforms, make crafts, go camping and basically run a multilevel marketing organization that has the corner on yummy cookies. OK, I’m totally kidding (except for the yummy part), but you do have to wonder how aliens would view the girl scouts.
Anyway, I bought a box of cookies. Never mind that I go to great lengths to keep myself from bringing such things home; I still bought a box. And I know I’ll buy more before their selling season is over. And I encourage everyone reading to go buy a box too. Why? Surely $3 for a box that has maybe 14 cookies in it is ridicules, right? Well, yeah, but at least it’s something. At least you get something for your donation to help the girls scouts, and you know that in doing so they are learning valuable lessons about how the world works.
How many times have you been accosted coming out of a store by children in baseball, football, cheerleading, etc uniforms? “Please give to help the Springfield little league” they beg as they shake a can wrapped in paper with “Springfield Little League” on it. Or how about the guys patrolling the big busy intersections wearing the cardboard signs that say, “Give to Help fight Cancer” (or Leukemia, Rets Syndrome, etc.).
In most places that I know, wanton begging for money is called pan handling and it’s illegal. Never mind that it’s illegal, that’s not my point, my point (question rather) is, what are we teaching our children? That it’s OK to beg? Just asking people for money is a good and honorable way to raise money?
Ummm. I think it’s not OK. I don’t believe we got to be a great Country by begging our neighbors for money. We got to be the greatest and most powerful Country through hard work and innovation, not by sitting on the street corner with our hand out.
So go buy some cookies and next time you’re accosted by beggars tell them (and their parents) to go have a bake sale.
(This in no way means that you shouldn't give to your church or other charities - that's something else entirely and I would argue that our generosity in that way has contributed to the making of this great Country. All that is for a later rant.)
Babe-they're only Girl Scouts. I promise, if you back away slowly, they will only advance with Thin Mints. It'll be ok.
Posted by: Helen at January 20, 2004 1:01 AMIt's not the Thin Mints that scare me - it's the somores (or whatever they're called now). :-)
Posted by: Clancy at January 20, 2004 6:16 AMBlasphemy! Thin mints are the great culmination of mass produced cookiedom! Repent, repent and sin no s'more!
I don't give to the panhandlers either, with two notable exceptions. The first are fire companies. Down here in Georgia they are woefully underfunded and they'll go on fundraising drives (literally). They bring a fire truck and park it in front of the supermarket and use their big rubber boots for collection tins. They're always friendly and the kids love it - the firemen will let them sit in the trucks and climb all over the place and even honk the horn occasionally. On second thought, that's not actually money for nothing. It's definitely an entertainment value for the boys.
The second one is the Shriners. One weekend a month (on average) they'll hit the busy intersections for a round of dodge-car panhandling. I usually give whatever coinage I've got in the ashtray.
Posted by: Jim at January 20, 2004 6:59 AM