As I mentioned in the past, the area where I work is inundated with people with clipboards, looking for support. Many of these folks emanate from small offices in the same building where I work. I see them in the hallways sometimes, but they never stop me then. Even if they have their clipboards with them, they seem to wait until they have taken up their stations at strategic street corners.
I've gotten pretty adept at avoiding this people. I either take circuitous routes that avoid their corners all-together or I position myself inside a larger crowd and move through quickly. The main reason I avoid these people is that I don't want to talk to them. It's not them, it's me. I really don't want to talk to anybody if I can help it. Plus, I'm leery of anyone soliciting on the street. Whether it's money or my signature they want, the answer is going to be no.
And I hate to say no to people. It goes against my internal programming to disappoint them. What makes it worse is that their causes are often ones to which I am sympathetic. Yes, I am for a cleaner environment. No, I do not want to talk to you about it. I don't have a problem saying no to the ones I disagree with but those are rare. Mostly, I'm telling kids that, no, I do not have a spare minute to hear about the atrocities of war. Inside, I want to tell them that it wouldn't matter if they were promoting a petition to end the duct taping of kittens, I wouldn't stop.
At lunch today, I wasn't paying attention and I came face to face with a clipboard. I'm not sure of the topic, something with gay rights and bullying, I think. As I approached, the boy asked me if I had a minute. I grimaced and shook my head, as if it were vitally important that I get to a restaurant and start eating a burrito in the next 60 seconds. I felt bad. He was polite and his cause seemed just. As I passed him, I said, "Sorry." Then, to really ease my troubled spirit, I threw in a "have a nice day."
I took the long route back to the office.
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