Am I jaded or have I lived in the ‘hood too long?

Tavo and I were reading on the front porch, and a young, blonde, frankly out-of-place looking kid walked by, then came up to our front porch. It’s about 9 pm.

He had an Emory alumni shirt on, so we figured he was local.

He said he represented a grassroots movement of the Democratic Party and was talking about the leaps and bounds his activist group was making in securing Democratic fundraisers and rallying and etc. in parts of Georgia that were previously completely Republican, which many places in our conservative state are. It made sense. I have always been a staunch Democrat and Tavo has slowly been veering away from his Republican thinkings…(he thinks older liberal women are hot—you should see him watching PBS)

And then our porch visitor said he was fundraising.

I said, “You don’t really expect us to give you cash, do you?” Just for background, we have homeless people and crackies ask us for money about every night—less now that we’ve been here a few years. Regardless, this isn’t a Beaver Cleaver type neighborhood.

He said, “we prefer checks, but everyone can give what they can…”

I asked to see his credentials—I’m not giving my bank account number to just anyone. I then proceeded to point out that his certification had been expired for 8 months, he had no official signatures, and his badge had no seal and was the type you could pick up at kinkos for a dollar, etc.

He left quickly, embarassed, after saying I was the first person who’d mentioned his certification was expired and that he’d notify his boss directly.

My question—what if he was real deal grassroots and I just dissed a movement that I believe in?