All it takes is for leadership to slip up one time to start questioning everything else they told you. Like learning the tooth fairy doesn’t exist, casting doubt on the easter bunny and Santa Claus - except there’s incentives for belief. Would I go on with the charade while harbouring doubts? Escape entirely? Depends.

At the very least I’d carve a glory hole in the wall.

Fair enough, I can see how that would taint your view of the world. Admittedly, that was a time when a lot of us were poor, in a place where a lot of young people go to get away from their lives. We were all just trying to get by, so we shared what we could.

I probably wouldn’t have met mug guy, if not for the mug, and he was a delight. I say that as someone who grew up in a pretty insular, toxic, pay-your-own-way sort of family. Mug guy showed me it’s okay to ask for what you need and some people genuinely want to help you.

I thought it was interesting and uplifting to see people come together to support this guy in a fairly simple way. He just told people about his mug if they asked and didn’t belabor it from there. Even shared candy when he got it.

I worked at a restaurant, where there’s a lot of food waste, so I was happy to help someone out while he found his footing. He didn’t come back on his own, I told him to see me when I’m working.

It’s weird to spin that into a “parasitic” relationship.

For the couple months I knew him the mug was either in his hand or clipped to his bag.

I didn’t see his dates and I didn’t ask, but he came by for dinner once and ate his portion from the mug.

As far as I saw, it was a great conversation starter, he made a lot of friends and ate reasonably well.

My groceries aren’t interesting, but I had a friend who only ate what went into a mug.

He carried around a ceramic mug, either collecting free stuff or telling people about his mug to see if they’d put food in it. Free samples, a few grapes, and occasional hand outs all went into the mug. I filled it with soup when he came by.

Trump either dies suspiciously or gets openly assassinated.

California secedes from the union which starts off hopeful but ends in their own Calexit debacle.

The severing of intercontinental data cables leads to the isolation of formerly global communities.

Calls and texts - and only through icons. Otherwise it’s do not disturb 24/7.

Qi Gong: a relaxing, low impact workout. Dozens of monks have youtube channels.