Charity begins...
The doorbell went about 8pm. We don’t usually get many unsolicited callers but I’ve had a few lately as friends have called to see how I am. Sometimes I have to struggle with the impulse not to let them invade my world of solitude. We all know where that road ends.
Anyway – this wasn’t a friend of a well wisher. She was collecting for charity – a cancer charity – and of course they never tell you what they are doing ‘cos that would make it too easy for you to shut them up before they have got your guilt going. Well I am quite practiced in this so when she said
“I’m from blah blah blah Cancer and have you heard of them before?”
I said in as polite a voice of possible “I wouldn’t like to hear about them”.
She looked a bit surprised (What do other people say?) and said
“Well that couldn’t have been more blunt” as she left.
As I went back to the washing up I wondered if what I really wanted to say was
“Well actually I’m just getting over skin cancer and I don’t generally give to charities so you’d be wasting your time and I work for a charity and if I were to give to a charity it wouldn’t be because someone knocked on my door because I hate being sold to.”
But if I had – she would have said something else and it would have taken longer and probably would have felt worse.