To Give or Not to Give - That is the Question

Yesterday I gave a panhandler a handful of change.  It was more than a cup of coffee but less than a lunch.
A passerby yelled a me. "He's only going to use that to buy drugs you know"

I didn't realize drugs could be purchased for approximately $3.76 and I thought it is better than him breaking into a house or car to steal.  In that scenario everything could go horribly wrong and  someone could get hurt or worse.

Someone else shouted out "his house and bank account are better than yours , he's scamming all of us" .

'Not you' I thought,  'you didn't give out any money'.

I thought about this young man all day.  What were his circumstances, how had he been raised, is he just lazy, is he hooked on drugs,  and etc., etc.

I recalled a day when a previous boss had gone to the bank and when he got back to the office he was fuming!
  Someone had asked him for spare change.
  He retorted "Get a job"

When he was telling us this story I said,' you've been looking for a warehouse person, why not go back and offer him the job?'

To which he replied ,

"I don't want someone like that working for me!"

I will continue to hand out what little change I have on me because there, but for the Grace of God, go I.


The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.  He also accepteth from a grouch.  ~Catherine Hal

And on another note, our dog Archie is 8 years old.  From the very early puppy stages he has been trained to be a "good dog".  On very rare occasions he is given a beef bone to gnaw on.
But only outsisde. 

He is ever hopeful that one day we will forget and actually let him in to chew on it.
Dream on Archie, Dream on.