She was out for a walk, alone with her thoughts,
Five years retired already, been quite the journey, two years a widow now, unfortunately,
Heard from the kids every now and then, grandkids loved her when they visited,
Too long between reunions but life gets busy thanks to higher costs of living,
Melancholy comes knocking every now and then, but for the most part life’s a breeze,
Simple living and optimism, both have been the key,
On this day, her peace ‘bout to be shattered in ways cringey than clear and present danger,
The dude ran towards her, gave her quite a fright, expecting a thug or purse-snatcher but he wasn’t that type,
He asked her how she was doing, if she was feeling blue,
Wrapped himself around her, minus her consent, before a response can come through,
“It’ll be alright,” said he, “you will be ok,”
“You looked like you needed cheering, have a lovely day,”
His mate stands not far away, phone pointed towards ‘em,
Soon to be uploaded into cyberspace without their subject’s permission,
Off they run feeling heroic while she’s left to pick up the pieces,
To say she’s weirded out and mortified would be an understatement.
Not too far away, dude on the sidewalk wasting,
Reviewing his current situation, the culmination of bad breaks and his own poor decisions,
Living off of others’ generosity and donations,
For the most part mere shrapnel but it’s better than nothing,
One day was approached by a total stranger, cash in her hand, ready for a big contribution, but for reasons rather sad,
She dropped the dough as intended but her phone was pointed at his face,
“Enjoy your money, Sir,” said she, “hope you have a lovely day,”
He’ll be eating well tonight while making the rounds online,
Without his knowledge or consent, her generosity was tainted,
Helping the needy is cool, but social media clout’s her main objective,
Chasing praises from the masses, the dopamine fix is highly addictive,
But for every five likes there are far more of the opposite, consider the plan backfired,
Critics are letting her have it, she still doesn’t know it, but she’ll find out in a little while.
Good deeds with hidden motives, we’re seeing ‘em more often
Helping the downtrodden but we see you acting the paparazzi on ‘em,
It’s an empty gesture if you’re just doing it for clout,
Your audience ain’t cheering or admiring, they’re mocking and laughing out loud,
If you did it out of kindness then you wouldn’t need any witnesses,
You’re just fishing for compliments and backslaps from friends and so-called followers,
Putting it on blast reeks of fakeness and arrogance, how translucent can you get?
Using the less fortunate for your own selfish intentions? You’re a special breed of scum bucket,
And in other cases you’re just playing the space invader, running up on ‘em like whatever,
How’d you like it if you were hassled for no apparent reason? You’d think they were a right little nuisance,
Better cut that out sooner rather than later, you’re doing yourself no favors,
You’re considered a major irritant across social media, how does that label work for ya?
Indulge your ego elsewhere through different means, your actions aren’t appreciated here,
Better you walked on by than using and abusing ‘em, let the real altruists tend to them.