The Big Issue

Hello!

I wonder what do you think this blog post is about if you just saw the title.

Yesterday morning, my little T'Bear and I went on a little trip to Sainsburys. We didn't want anything in particular, we just decided to browse, we ended up leaving there with cup cake mixture, a Frozen hoodie and leggings and a little Oleg toy as a Christmas stocking filler. As we were at the checkouts, T'Bear ran off to the little £1 toy machines, she was fixated on the Minion balls with keying's inside, fortunately for her I had £4 in my purse (two £1 coins and a £2 piece). She got two very cute little minion keying's and off we were walking out of the store.

There was a guy sat outside selling The Big Issue, he looked worse-for-wear, with dirt over his face, un-kept dark clothing and a little odour oozing from him. He barely spoke but smiled and held up his small pack of The Big Issue magazine, I kindly declined "Sorry" and I walked past him but there was something about him that seemed to catch me, and my daughter for that matter. We both kept looking back. I dug into my purse for the £2 piece I knew I had, I gave it to T'Bear and said to her, "Give it to that man over there. He needs it more than we do". She looked a little confused at first, she knew what I was saying - she was just shy. "Common then, I'll be coming with you" and with that she walked over to him, she held her hand out to him whilst pinching the coin in her fingers. He took it from her gently and smiled. After placing it in his pocket, he gave her a thumbs up but I did notice that he wanted to speak - but just couldn't. I think he was overwhelmed with emotion because it looked like he was chocking up, his mouth was opening but nothing was coming out. I just smiled, and T'Bear and I started to walk away. After a few steps she turned back at gave him a thumbs up, I smiled at her - the biggest smile - she done me proud. I looked back at him and he was wiping tears from his eyes. Seeing that - I nearly started crying too, my heart felt so strange with all sorts of feelings roaming through it. Pride, happiness, sadness.

When we got to my parents house I felt the need to share what had happened and how I felt. My dad said something along the lines of, "I bet you've just made him a millionaire. Not a lot of The Big Issue sellers are genuine homeless and 'helpless' people, Tessa". I said that he looked genuine to me, like he really appreciated the gesture. My dad disagreed and went to speak about a programme he had watched, The Big Issue sellers that the cameras followed went to nice houses - houses that were better than what you and I have.
I spoke to my mum later that night about it when she got home from work, "He's probably got more money than you have" was what she said.

Are they cynical? Am I naive? I'm now questioning my actions, did he really need it more than my daughter and I did?

This post is much more different from my usual post, and I'm sorry if you don't enjoy it but it's something that's been playing on my mind. Nearly 24hours later and I'm still thinking about it. I hate that there could be fraudsters out there. I give to many charities, all who I think are worthy of a donation because I can see how they really help others in need.

Was giving to The Big Issue seller right? I can't believe that I'm having doubts...