Don't mind saying I blubbed a little upon clocking this man this morning. Such a thing of beauty, really. Think about the amount of time, effort and love that went into that creation.
Given the family history, I'd already emptied the pockets en route to work. Therefore, after tearfully burbling "canItake.... yourphotoplease" a hunt started for the closest ATM that didn't have crap all over the buttons. When I returned to the corner of O'Connell Street, he'd gone. Much trotting up and down the street ensued (well, as far as the GPO), over and back across the bridge, standing around outside Pennys (which afforded the odd surreptitious peek at the window display). Then, just as I was about to give up, there he was... So I gave him some money.
Thing is, it would've been a much better story to say he'd been magicked away to another part of the country, like the Saint Nic of Daffodil Day, but really he'd probably just had to use the jacks in McDonalds and it took an age to wriggle out and back into his ensemble...
OK, the moral of this preamble is "effort". The effort that man went to; the effort involved in organising such an event as Daffodil Day; the effort cancer patients across the country go to every couple of weeks for Chemotherapy or every day for Radium; the effort all the GPs, pharmacists, nurses, oncologists, radiologists and hospice volunteers; the effort of beloved friends and family; the effort involved getting over heartbreaking loss and the effort to carry on regardless; and the relatively small effort it takes to put yer paw in your pocket and whip out a couple of coins.
Dig deep if you can today, people - "overall, it is estimated that more than one in three people will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime" - and today's about making that stark inevitability a little easier to deal with in the long run.
Thank you for reading :-)