On Facebook, there is a little application you can participate in called The Interview. You are asked to answer some random questions. I was on there today reading the answers some of my friends and family wrote. There was one question in particular that interested me, and I was somewhat surprised by the answers that different people gave to it.
The question is “Walking past a beggar, spare change or ignore?”
Years ago when I was a Girl Scout leader, one of the girls in my troop, Carla, talked about something similar to this. Her thoughts on the matter where that you never know who your guardian angel may be. It could be the little old lady who needs a hand getting her groceries to the car. It may be the guy who needs thirty cents for to make bus fare. It might be that beggar you pass on the street. In Carla’s vision of life, doing good deeds for the people you know and love was only part of the picture. Helping out in small ways to those you meet in passing was the other, bigger part. Even if they don’t look or smell just right, helping those people was far more important, because you are given a chance to make a very small decision that may change that stranger’s life, even for just a moment. Not every beggar is looking for the next bottle of wine. Some are truly hungry. They may be hungry for compassionate human contact.
I always felt like the girls in my troop taught me far more than I taught them. The way Carla felt about doing good deeds in life was one of those things. So, what do you do when you pass a beggar on the street?
Gaelyn says
June 19, 2009 at 11:22 amI am ashamed to say I usually pass them by. Your girlscouts learned from you as well.
Annie Jones says
June 19, 2009 at 11:31 amLiving in a larger city, I can't give to every beggar/homeless/panhandler I see, but I do give sometimes.
After all, I know where my next meal is coming from. They might not…
Susan Adcox says
June 19, 2009 at 1:24 pmI'm a definite giver. My friend Mike goes on hikes for months at a time. Sometimes he has to call a cab to get from the end of his hike to a bus station or airport. Once he called a cab, then checked his money. He was a dollar short, and the cab was already on its way! Just then a car drove by and a woman handed him a dollar. Now my friend Mike had been on the trail for a while and probably wasn't looking too spiffy, but he wasn't panhandling. Yet someone came by and gave him just what he needed. You could be that person for someone!
Susan says
June 19, 2009 at 3:09 pmUnfortunately, it is no longer A beggar. There are many and I tend to be leary of scams. Every once in a while, my heart is rattled by a certain person, and then I give something. I can remember years ago when my daughter and son-in-law lived in Florida. They were newly married and did not have a cent to spare, but every Christmas eve after church, my son-in-law would drive to a car wash in the area where he knew someone "lived" during the evening hours and always gave him some money. I was impressed then and I still am thinking about it.
Jason, as himself says
June 20, 2009 at 8:53 amI have gone around and around on this one with myself. I've also posted a few times on this subject. I do give some times, but not always, because like one of your previous commenters said, I can't give all the time. Often if I have food or access to it I will try to give them food, which sometimes they don't seem to want.
I'd say yes, there are scammers out there. But most seem to be mentally ill or addicted to something, and need help. Not necessarily the help I can give them, but I try to do what I can.
And then I start to feel guilty about living in excess, you know, nicer house than I need, nicer car than I need, spending money on things I don't need….
see? It's an endless cycle!
I hope you're enjoying your Grand Canyon summer.
teeni says
June 20, 2009 at 6:31 pmI only give sometimes. There are a lot of scammers out this way and especially in mall/shopping areas where people claim to have run out of gas with a pregnant wife in the car or whatever the sob story may be. So I take into consideration where I am and try to be smart about it.
Christine says
June 21, 2009 at 4:26 pmYour friend is amazing to have thought so much about it at such a young age.