My mother is a good woman. But on being greeted by a charming golden retriever, a shaking red bucket and the dog’s well-meaning human handler from a local animal charity, a line had been crossed, even for her.
Having already put her hand in her pocket for multiple charities in the town centre while Christmas shopping – from the wonderful Salvation Army brass band playing Away in a manger and the granddaughter she sent forth with a few quid, to the ebullient veteran who offered to pack her bags at M&S for a military charity – as a pensioner with no private income, she felt there was nothing more she could reasonably offer.
Dodging the dog’s (adorable) gaze, my mother took her guilt with her on the bus back home.
Such anxiety will be familiar to many of us. Around Christmas we spend money on those we love, often painfully aware of our blessings and how we might give more to those less fortunate.
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