I don’t know about you, but around where I live, there are loads of people who sit on the street and beg for money. 

In my experience, this is normal in most places, and, though it sounds like an awful thing to say out loud, I can never bring myself to look these people in the eye. Yes, I have change in my purse, but no, I can’t give much, if any, away to anyone else, because I myself am struggling so hard to get by. 

I give what I can, of course. From tips at work and extra change I find, I give as much as I can afford to to those more in need of it. 

And the other day, walking down the street back home after a coffee catch up with my friend, we saw someone who had clearly been on the street the entire day, and my friend very kindly stopped and gave him the change from his pocket. 

Nothing different there, it happens all the time, you give some change, they say thanks, that’s your good deed done for the day. 

We kept walking. 

Then, still in conversation, we heard some shouting behind us. In Glasgow, that’s never really a good sign and I kind of s*** myself a little when I turned round and saw a man walking way too quickly for comfort towards us. 

He held his hand out towards us, and it turns out that, amongst the change my friend had dropped into his cup, there was a plectrum, and the homesless man had run after us to give it back in case ‘he’d need it.’

Being a musician, there’s a high possibility my friend has plectrums falling out of his ears, and one going missing wouldn’t be a total catastrophe, but after giving thanks to the man and walking towards home again, we contemplated just how much that gesture meant. The man had zero need to come after us to return the plectrum- he could have just thrown it in the bin, but, he decided to get up out of his spot and return it to my friend. 

It kind of made us tear up a little. Our faith in humanity increased. It’s small things like this happening that make you think karma is a real thing, and that if you pay it forward, your good deed will come around again. 

Keep treating others well, and your actions will go full circle. 

C x