Sunday, January 04, 2009

Beggars can be choosers

On Boxing Day in Zac's, when people came in for lunch, they were able to browse through neatly sorted piles of clean jumpers, scarves, trousers and so on.

I was trying to help Shamus find a jumper. Shamus has long matted hair. The clothes he was wearing were dirty and slept in. I held up a thick woolly v-neck. 'No,' he said, 'I don't like v-necks.'
'What about this then?' I held up a warm collared shirt.
'No, I don't like collars. I just like it like this.' He gestured to suggest a round-neck.
I tried another one. 'This is a lovely warm jumper.'
'No, it's not me. A man's got to have his own style, you know.'

I'm glad he insists on selecting clothes he likes. It teaches me, a do-gooding middle-classer, that beggars aren't necessarily going to be grateful with any old cast-offs I might care to pass on. They still have their pride. And their style.
xx

2 comments:

Furtheron said...

Good for him - at least he retains his dignity despite it all.

jmb said...

Well luckily he had a choice. Wonderful exchange Liz, it does make one think.