Seems that everything that happens to me lately has occurred on the road or when I'm in my vehicle.
As I get older, I've realized two things about my driving: I am having much more difficulty seeing at night (night blindness?), and I am getting paranoid about being out there after dark. I remember telling my parents years ago I wanted to live out in the country "where there's no lights". Now I need streetlights in order to feel safe.
Despite those shortcomings, they must be overlooked as my job requires me to be on the road during early morning hours. But one can not throw caution to the wind and I'm glad I had mine.
Pulling out of Speedway today, I was approached by a man in his early 60s, wearing a plain t-shirt and underwear, armed with a hospital bracelet and nacho cheese stains on that shirt. He spoke to me in a very shaky voice that he needed $1.40 to buy a candy bar due to a diabetic condition. He was worried that without the needed sugar, he'd pass out.
Now my father has diabetes as well, and I hope he doesn't shake his head when he reads this: I told the man I had no money, backed out and left. Then my latest pet peeve came to me when he called to me, "Aren't you a good Christian?" This I believe was an immediate attempt to give me the proverbial guilt trip. I got out of that parking lot as fast as I could.
Unfortunately, I don't trust people much anymore, especially complete strangers near an airport, walking around in their underwear. There were about ten other customers at the gas station at that time; why did he pick on me? Why wasn't he in a hospital, and if he was, how did they let him out in his condition? If it was a prank, how did he get the hospital bracelet? And how could I assume that $1.40 was all he wanted? You really have to be careful out there.
I'm so worn down by reading stories about decoys and undercover operations that it automatically triggers the "no" mechanism in me, which today was probably worth it. I hope I will not be judged as a non-Christian by saying no. It's not that I don't sympathize for anyone in his condition, or my father's. I hate seeing others suffer.
Personal safety, however, has no time to suffer in today's world.
