I'm a callous brute

I've gone from being a soft touch (see earlier blog) to a callous brute.

Yesterday a man rang asking me to come to Sainsbury's and buy food for the weekend. I politely refused on the stated grounds that I was tied up all day. This was basically true. I only just had time to do my essential preparation, visit the hospital and lead the evening nurture course. If I had taken half an hour to deal with this request I wouldn't have had time to do the rest. But of course, the real reason for my refusal was I just didn't want to.

I can attempt to justify this. The man had come from the Job Centre where he was having trouble getting hold of the money he was owed. I didn't fully grasp his story, but it was clear his financial planning had gone astray and he had got himself in a mess. Even assuming he was genuine, should it be my responsibility to bail him out? (That's not a rhetorical question. The answer is arguably yes.)

This morning, the speaker on Thought for the Day told of how he gave money to someone needing a train ticket (a clear con) because he believed the man should be treated as a person and not ignored as if he didn't exist. But how do you treat a con man as a person? Neither ignoring him nor giving him money seem a good idea. Is a polite refusal enough? What about saying, "I don't believe a word of it, but God loves you anyway" Or perhaps, "I'm not going to give you money, but if you give me your name I'll pray for you."