Talking about the sainted Dr. Keon and his mishap reminded me of a dinner we went to a few years ago. We were seated at a table with two Catholic deacons and their wives. Both men were dressed in elaborate robes and had large, bejewelled crosses around thier throats; their wives were door-mice. Well, as we were all sipping wine -- or was it gulping -- I mentioned that I had given a wino money that afternoon. "Excuse me, m'am, but do you have .23 cents?" he slurred. "Why .23 cents?" I asked him. "That's all I need for a bottle," he replied. I was so bowled over I gave him the money. He wasn't being greedy and I always give money to beggars -- be they drunks or whackos. I told this story to my pious dinner companions and between generous swigs of the grape they denounced public drunks and stated that they never...glug...glug...gave money...glug, glug...to bums...glug, glug...for booze. "Oh I will certainly take them out for a meal, but if you give them money, they just spend it on booze," admonished one of the virtuous, draining his goblet.
That prompted me to explain why I always give money to beggars -- you know, there but for the grace of god..............etc. And who am I to judge what they need it for? But I then added, "You know, shocking and unbelieveable as it may seem, I have actually been drunk myself -- maybe even more than once. The only difference is most of us learn pretty quickly when to put the cork in the bottle. These unfortunates don't." They stared at me mute and turned the colour of their robes. Both wives sniggered. And that was the end of their righteous denunciation of street drunks.
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