I'm going to hell

I am a bad bad person. There is plenty of evidence to prove this conclusion but I will share only one. My treatment of acti-bums.
For those of you who do not live in a highly pedestrian city (such as NYC) acti-bums are activists who are paid to stand in the street and harass you. (my friend asher is a anti-mercury-in-water acti-bum, therefore I don’t talk to him anymore). They play on guilt, flattery and pathos to get your hard earned money into the hands of those in need.
Excuse me. They use their money to pay their salary. For every person they reel in they get a commission and the money is mostly likely going to grease the wheels of a gigantic bureaucracy.
At least that is what I tell myself to help me sleep at night.
At first I had sympathy for the acti-bums. I congratulated my suitemate when she was reeled into sponsoring a small Asian child. I would sometimes talk to them. And I would always say, “Sorry, I’m late for class” followed by a big smile when I didn’t have time to chat.
That was before I became bitter and jaded.
I believe it was the time one jumped out in front of me and made me spill my coffee. Or maybe it was the time one touched my arm to try to stop me from walking by. Or maybe it was witnessing one pull all the stops to get a naive friend to sign up right then and there. Here is a sample of their conversation:
Friend: Wow, 30 bucks, that’s a lot of money a month.
Acti bum: its not too much to sooth your troubled soul.
Friend: It seems like a good cause, can I have an web address to do some more research?
Acti bum: you can sign up right now.
Friend: I don’t have any cash on me.
Acti bum: You can use a credit card.
Friend: I’m not allowed to use my credit card with out consulting my mom first.
Acti bum: Call your mom.
Friend: what? She’s at work.
Acti bum: she wont mind being interrupted. She’ll be so proud of you.
Friend: you think?
Acti bum: call her right now and we’ll talk to her together. She’ll be proud to know that her daughter is so conscientious.
And with that she GOT MY FRIEND TO CALL HER MOTHER AT WORK. I was awed. I was amazed. I was vaguely horrified. Luckily for my friend and her credit card her mom was in a meeting.
Now whenever I encounter an Acti-bum I pretend they don’t exist (though if I ever bump into Asher in his acti bum duties I may egg him). I’m even ruder to the acti bums evil off spring: the comedy show promoters and the hair model salesmen. I have actually made eye contact with them and then looked away and hurried on, provoking one to shout after me “what? You don’t speak English.”
But sometimes they tell me they love my hair. So then I smile.