Probably Not Prudent

After half a century on the planet, you’d think I’d have it mostly figured out, but there are still loads of things I remain unclear about.

For instance, I don’t have a principle that determines when I will or won’t give money to panhandlers. For a while I tried ‘anyone who asks,” and sometimes I’ve adopted “as long as they aren’t smoking;” of late, I’ve tried not to give to anyone who make me feel uncomfortable, but I’m inconsistent.

Last night, this guy in the QFC parking lot was sparechanging with a simple “God bless you,” to whomever passed by. Generally, I’ve tried to steer clear of theistic appeals; this time, though, I gave him my pocketful of change—maybe sixty cents—and in doing so, noticed his one eye to be completely clouded over with a cataract. So maybe he really was in need and I ought to have helped out more.

Nor am I very good at making small talk with my neighbors. Some people have the knack for chatting about the weather and such but I always feel like a great big idiot when it comes time to fill up the backyard space with words.

And I guess I’m still unsure about when I ought to spend more money on something new as opposed to fixing the old thing. I’ve got this several year old rain jacket, see; it’s been my reliable wet weather gear for two or three seasons and I’ve got no particular complaints with it. But it’s wearing out; the waterproof laminate is going and the zipper is completely shot.

So, I took it to this place, Rainy Pass, that repairs Gore-Tex stuff and the price for installing a new zipper is like sixty bucks. The jacket itself only cost like seventy-nine ninety-nine, so what am I to do? A new one is around $200, so I went for the repair.

Is this prudent? At almost fifty, I still don’t know.