Moral Dilemma

I met up with a girl named Annie after work. She's kind of new in town, but she probably knows the city better than I do already, because I don't get out much. (That could change soon, though, because I just got a promotion and a little raise. I worked it out and it comes to about an added $15/week after taxes. That'll pay for 1-2 fun activities per week. So measured in dollars it's not a ton, but measured in Fun it's pretty good.) Anyway, Annie and I have a lot of artsy-fartsy stuff in common, and a similar sense of humor, so a mutual friend gave us each other's email address and we went out on the town. OK, mostly we were at Quiznos, but it was downtown.

While we were wandering the streets after dinner, we passed a man who was asking for change. He was doing this odd thing with his arm, kind of throwing it out to the side -- either quite purposefully or quite involuntarily, but definitely forcefully -- before bringing his hands together in a cup and asking for money. This caused me to have a Moral Dilemma. It wasn't about whether to give him money. It was, When I get back home to my roommates, do I do an impression of this guy? I mentioned this to Annie, and her answer -- without hesitation or equivocation -- was "YES!" Well, problem solved, then. Now I just need to decide how to give my interpretation. Was it more of a '70s disco move, or a tick? (That line is Annie's. She said I didn't have to credit her when I wrote about it here, but I am anyway.)

I actually do wonder about little things like that, and whether I'm doing the right thing. Part of it is my fearful, anal-retentive nature. Part of it is a genuine desire to live out my faith, and to be kind to people even when they're not around. Even with Annie's enthusiastic encouragement, now that I'm alone at the computer I'm wondering if I should even have written about this gentleman in a sarcastic way.

At this point, my friends and family will probably tell me to stop analyzing. It's not mean, it's harmless and funny, turn your brain off and go have fun.

I haven't gotten to the point where I'm getting lots of answers from God. But I have gotten a lot better at telling my brain to shut up. So that's what I'll be doing for the rest of the evening.