There's a question I've asked myself (and others) for as long as I can remember. I've always wondered whether, when someone (a stranger to you) asks, should you give them money or not. I say you shouldn't because you are probably just aiding them in a lazy lifestyle. I also say you should because giving is a beautiful thing and I believe that the one who gives freely grows all the richer, while another withholds what he has and only suffers want. No matter how long and ardently I think about this, I never seem to be able to reach a reasonable conclusion. I always end the debate with an I don't know. Honestly, I want to give (at least a little)to the dread-locked woman sitting on the edge of the fountain in downtown Seattle. I want to drop pennies in the panhandlers cup, but I always hesitate because what if I am only increasing their burdens? What if they turn around and use my five bucks for a fix, a joint? What if they figure since they got twenty bucks today, they'll probably get thirty bucks tomorrow and then why should they get a job? But then I hesitate in walking away because what if they honestly need that money? What if they were raped, stolen from, and left with nothing? What if my five bucks is all they have today?
Those questions leave me thinking that maybe the answer is to get to know that person and their situation before helping them out. But then there's always the chance of them lying or harming you and we can't get to know every homeless man and woman in the U.S., much less the world, in this lifetime. I still search for an answer everywhere I look. All I can tell you is that looking into the eyes of a homeless man or woman is not doing enough to learn their story, and the answer to a simple question, when put into a corrupt world, becomes complicated.