We're all wishing we'd taken the street to our right

You’d think something as simple as walking through a town centre would be stress free, care free and more to the point, FREE. But in today’s climate there’s always somebody collaring us for money, or to sign our details up to some chain email which will no doubt result in some sole destroying, computer hard-drive destroying virus.

We’ve all had someone thrust a bucket in our face, or guilt trip us in to buying something only suitable for entering the next bin we see. It was only the other day when walking through Newcastle and ahead of me I could see swarms of bodies in blue jackets, but too naïve to notice the fact they were herding up members of the public like sheep. It was minutes later when I claimed I was 15 to get out of the ‘well let me tell you what it’s about, you have to do nothing‘, knowing the ‘it’ll only take a few minutes’ cliché all too well.

Yearly events similar to the likes of ‘Children in Need’ and ‘Comic Relief’ are the perfect opportunity to donate money, or at the very least raise our awareness’. But at what point do we say enough is enough? Or don’t we? Do we go on through life giving our time and money to others in the hope that we would be reimbursed if we found ourselves in a similar unfortunate situation to those who we’re giving our money?

Or, is that exactly what we should be looking at? The reason in which WHY we give our money away with the drop of a hat, or in this case, the shake of a bucket. When will we stop buying in to the over-written and over-rehearsed clichés from the people who are nothing more than aliens to us? We’ve never seen these people, and will never again see these people, and without the perfectly crafted smile, puppy-dog eyes and bullshit slogan, we’d not even dare to entertain the idea of opening up our purse to a stranger.

I’ll listen and I’ll give but eventually, we’re all going to reach the point of no return; the point in which if we give away any more, we’ll be on the other side of the fence begging money from the likes of our current selves. And that’s another story.