Mind your manners

The camp started on a Wednesday and for that reason the Wednesday felt like a Saturday.

On my way to camp I had to make a stop at Amsterdam central station to continue my journey to Amersfoort central station . For 30 minutes, I sat and waited for the next train and observed the people that walked by. Different nationalities surrounded me and a woman who was sitting next to me was eating her fries with a lot of mayonnaise.  I told her to 'Eet smakelijk' (which means that I told her to enjoy your meal) and she said:'Bedankt' (which means thank you).

Suddenly an African woman with short hair and a light spot on her cheek walked up to me. She didn't greet.

She did not waste any time or words and asked: 'Can you give me 50 euros?'  I told her I did not have 50 euros (cash at least).  '20 then? Or 10?' Again I told her I did not have it. '5 then?' I repeated the same answer. She walked  away as fast as she had walked up to me, without saying another word.

I have experienced a similar situation in Antwerp, where I did give a guy, who looked like a homeless person and told me he needed money for a ticket to go home 20 euros. He told me a whole story about how he had experienced war and who some guy had stabbed him with a knife and wanted to be reunited with his family who lived in another country.  I didn't know if any of it was true but I gave him the money just in case he wasn't telling a lie. Maybe it was all part of the scheme but I remember that he had really good manners. 

He seemed very thankful after I had given him the money and said he would pray for me and ask God to bless me and asked for my address to send a postcard. The postcard never arrived. Call me naive but I knew that if I did not help this guy, who maybe really needed help, that I would                                                                 feel bad about myself. And I believe in karma.

I  usually don't walk around with cash, so I can usually say no to  beggars and homeless people, for a practical reason, but I usually also say no because I do not want to give them money to buy the drugs that probably got them into, or attributed to, the situation they're in.

Usually...
I also gave a guy 2 euros once because he approached me at the bus stop and asked me for 2 euros to buy a ticket to catch the bus. My mistake: He walked away from the bus stop the moment he got the money. Liar, liar, pants on fire!

...but let me continue the story of the woman who approached me, before or after she probably approached everyone else in the station. I actually might have given her 5 euros if I had it on me at that moment. 

I would have considered it, if I could, but I don't think I would and I will mention the 3 most important reasons:

1. She did not tell a story with the power to convince me. She did not tell a story at all (You can't make money without putting at least some effort in it.










2. The way she approached me kind of gave away that she wanted money to buy drugs (She went straight for her goal and probably was not thinking about anything else, could not think of anything else: That's what drugs do.

To succeed in the world you must be well-mannered  

-Voltaire- 

3. The last but most important reason: The first thing I noticed when she approached me was that she had the worst manners in human history. I think that when you walk up to someone (and walk away), that you should always try to greet. Especially when you want to ask them to give you, a complete stranger, 50 euros.