Internet Beggars

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The town beggar who used wild flowers as his begging bowl has changed to plastic flowers. Donald Trump doesn't want to adjust. He's glued to obnoxious campaigning. He is born of woman and women will send him to an early grave on November 5.

How is internet begging different from begging on the street? This town has a unique street beggar.

The bus stop florist has relocated. That is why I hadn’t seen him for a while. I saw him on Garry recently, a quiet street, just two blocks south, from where I last saw him in 2020, the Covid-19 year. He has a different product now, plastic flowers. He used to sell withered daisies and wild lilies at a bus stop mostly populated by students, that go to one of the two universities in this town.

Maybe selling is the wrong word because when I met him recently, he didn’t give me a price. He just thrust the flowers in my face, and of course I jumped out of the way, like any ‘upright’ citizen who doesn’t want to know. It’s the government’s problem not ours, right?

He didn’t give me a price, the same way he didn’t give me a price the last time I saw him. He is a beggar then. Not really, because of what happens at that bus stop. It is next to a coffee shop, where beggars sit outside the entrance. Some are bolder. They go inside and approach you while you are in the line waiting to order. Therefore, in that context, I cannot say he is a beggar.

What prompted me to write this piece is the product. What made him switch to plastic flowers? Is he a beggar? I don’t think so because one of the internet by-products is the social media influencer.

Most of them claim to be philanthropists that help the poor. It is online begging plain and simple.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Blogger Without Borders

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