foodierudy

Don’t normally give money to homeless people around, I’m not a scrooge, and really like helping other people, but everyone says giving money doesn’t really help them in the long term here and here. What to do? Seeing them on the streets saddens me. I still won’t usually give them any money. I have bought a Big Issue before, however when I handed over my quid, the guy refused to give me his paper, reckoned it was his last one and he needed it to make some more money. Felt ripped off. I let him keep the quid tho. However, on a cold, rainy day, I have walked past some very miserable people, and then given (actually M usually gives) a couple of quid. Out last night, walking with M. Saw someone walking past drop something, got a little annoyed at people littering etc, but it turned out to be £5! Looked back, but couldn’t identify him/her in the crowd, so shoved it in my pocket. Felt a little guilty for not giving it back, hopefully no-one saw me, and then suggested to M we give it to someone. No beggars in sight (strange I know, this is London after all), thought I might put it in collection box at church tomorrow. But then, they do all right, a fiver is not going to make a big difference. Ended up giving it to a homeless guy further along. Almost walked past him, then remembered the 5 squid burning a hole in my pocket. When I gave it to him, he cracked the biggest grin on his face, M smiled, and I got all warm and fuzzy inside. Still felt embarrassed that so little gave someone so much joy. Hope he spent it wisely…

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.