I was driving to a funeral today. I pulled off Interstate 35W at 36th Street and waited at the stoplight. At the corner was a lady holding a cardboard sign: "HELP, HOPELESS, ANYTHING WILL HELP."
My first inclination was sadness that someone would have such low self-esteem as to beg on a street corner. But as I watched her, I thought of an item in the paper about rich donors at the Republican convention partying on a 147-foot yacht.
The only requirement was that one had to have contributed more than a million dollars to the campaign. I looked back at the pitiful lady and thought of the donors on the yacht smoking cigars and drinking champagne.
I rolled down my window. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a crumpled $5 bill and offered it to her. She grabbed the bill and blessed me.
I don't know what she will do with the money. She may use it for drugs. She may use it for liquor. But she may use it to feed a child.
It is not important what she will do with the money. What is important is what I did with the money. I hope she will use it wisely. But one thing I'm sure she will not do is smoke cigars and drink champagne on a 147-foot yacht.
JERRY LEPPART, Eden Prairie
