Being in their shoes.

Tuesday last week after a catchup session with friends I hadn't seen for a long time, we were ready to go home. As we walked back towards union station, some people decided that they'd instead go for dessert. So they called up someone else who lived close by and asked if she could join. And the group decided to lurk around on front street while waiting for a good 15 minutes. I was the only person who wanted to go home, and be the party ruiner -- but it was getting late.

I, with my usual erratic behaviours, decided to sit right there, on the sidewalk, cross-legged. This was directly infront of east side marios. About 7 people standing around me -- and one new person who I was introduced to while sitting on the sidewalk -- a manager of sorts. I was sort of embarassed since I could potentially be working under/with him someday, and he was just leaving the datacenter/office. I got around this by telling him to smile, and taking a picture of him, bottom up. So I sat there, realizing sitting on the ground allows me to rest my arms thus take pictures of longer exposures.. under the low light, I snapped a few. Combine this with the foot traffic coming out of the stadium after the tuesday baseball game -- and you get one busy front street. And everyone looking at me, since I'm the only one sitting avec la camera.

Then something even more out of the ordinary happened.
A homeless person, decided to walk by.. throw a dime at me, and said "I know you'd do it for me if I was sitting there.. here you go buddy" and walked away. As I picked up the dime.. my friends were laughing .. "hahah... he thought you were homeless" But I was wondering would I really have given him a dime if it was him sitting on the street? My friends said it's a lucky dime, and I should keep it.. I don't believe in superstition, but I kept it out of respect. Then my friends decided to mock me a bit more and throw more change at me. It wasn't too funny. I got up soon after and left with another friend, who dropped me off at home. Everyone else went for desserts.

I pass by plenty of homeless in the downtown core of toronto. And many I find are not legitimately homeless.. some I have given money to because they made excuses, which later I found to be untrue. Over time I've become somewhat desensetized to 'giving money' portion, but I do have the feeling for 'sense of well being' portion.. so I try to keep a balance on whether I donate or not.

I have thought about doing an exhibit of sorts online with photos of homeless people, but that runs into ethical dilemmas.. so it's on hold for now. There's much more that could be told about this issue. I know we've had to work hard to live after moving to canada. And it's unfortunate that there are such people on our streets.

So I guess that's what it means when 'if you were in my shoes' is stated.
What would you do, if you were in their shoes?
And have you considered what he did do, when he was in yours?