  Today I was approaching the Madonna/Higuera intersection when I noticed a homeless guy standing on the sidewalk holding a cardboard sign. I meant to ignore him, because I've found that eye contact encourages begging, and if he were to say something to me then I'd have to pretend not to have noticed him, because that's easier than telling him to get a job, which is what I want to say whenever a homeless person asks me for change because I'm a cruel and heartless person. But he would see right through my quickly averted gaze and know I really did see him but are callously making like I didn't, and then he'd think I'm a terribly rude person, which I am, but that's beside the point.
However, if I ignore him from the get-go, then he might think that I'm actually a kind-hearted, generous soul who probably would have given him a couple of bucks, a hamburger, and maybe even a ride into town had I not been so focused on the road ahead of me. It's all about perception. So like I was saying, I meant to ignore the guy, but I couldn't help but notice that his sign did not say "Will work for food. " In fact, it didn't say urlLink anything that cardboard signs held by homeless guys usually say .
What it said was, "Come on, smile! " Of course, I'm the kind of person who, when told to do something, will make every effort to NOT do it, just to be difficult. So I prepared myself to frown convincingly as I drove by. But then something funny happened. The homeless guy started dancing. It was just a little bootie-shaking. Not like he broke into urlLink the Roger Rabbit or anything. But it was funny. I mean, how often do you see a homeless guy dancing? I had to smile. And as I drove past the dancing homeless guy, something inside me changed. I thought about how long he must have been standing on that corner, under the hot afternoon sun, making a fool of himself in order to brighten the day of a perfect stranger. And I wondered if any of the hundreds of people driving by that afternoon had chosen to return the favor and brighten his day a bit.
And I knew what I had to do ... I drove home and blogged about it! (What, did you think I was going to go give the dancing homeless guy some money or something? Didn't you read the part where I said I'm cruel and heartless? Sucker. ) 
