I started my week with a scheduled jury trial in South Arkansas. It was to start Monday morning. The trial was postponed after my client granted himself a continuance by not appearing for jury selection. I was disappointed that the trial was not going since I had spent the entire weekend working on the case in preparation. Deciding to make the most of the situation, I stopped at my favorite Mexican restaurant in Arkadelphia on the way back to Little Rock.
While I was eating my “Shrimp Diablo,” a large elderly woman came in and walked up to the table. She handed me a small yellow brochure that, among other things, included an illustration of the sign language alphabet. The brochure simply asked the reader to purchase the brochure to donate to the hearing impaired. She looked a little pathetic and I was in the throes of delight with my meal. I felt true sympathy for her apparent inability to hear and ultimately gave her $5 for two brochures.
I watched her walk to a couple of other tables without success and then leave the restaurant. I watched her as she left and went across the parking lot. I was a bit surprised when she got into a relatively new SUV crossover and drove off. Needless to say, I immediately became concerned that I had been taken advantage of by this woman, who found me in a weakened state caused by the spicy shrimp.
I immediately began to wonder whether the woman was even hearing impaired. I felt a hint of anger, but then decided that – new car or not – maybe she needed the money. Anyway, the $5 was not going to change my life one way or another, so no real harm was done. I thought that maybe it would help her in some way. There are those that would disagree and argue that what I did was no different than feeding a cat. They would say that my action will only encourage the lady to keep doing what she did to me. She will tell others about her scam, and they will do the same to other members of society.
Maybe they are right. I look at it this way: There will always be those that take advantage of those willing to help the less fortunate. That truth does not change the fact that there are a lot of needy people in the world and in our community. We all want to believe our generosity goes to those that truly need it, but have to recognize that waste and trickery will always exist in charitable endeavors. We can never be sure that 100 percent of what we do for the less fortunate will get used for that purpose.
Think of it this way: If you had as much water as you needed, and four people asked you for a glass of water, would you give it to them if you knew that three were dehydrated and one was faking? Would you deprive the three for the one? I don’t think so. Most of us would risk getting taken advantage of to help the other three – or would we? Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
The ultimate question is whether I would ever buy another brochure from a person that presented it in same way. Even as I’d like to think I’m generous enough to consider making a similar donation for the same brochure, I’m not sure I would because of my experience Monday.
Life has a tendency to make us hard and cynical. Experience is not always a good thing. Maybe the trick is simply keeping an open heart while being vigilant against those that would take advantage and trying not to hold their dishonesty against the many in our society that are truly needy.
We all need a helping hand now and then. That’s especially true for those of us way up in the CHEAP SEATS!
Bill James is a co-founder of the James Law Firm with offices in Little Rock, Conway and Fayetteville, Arkansas. His primary area of practice is criminal defense. He can be contacted at Bill@JamesFirm.com