Cash, compassion and morality

The Baltimore Sun:

I was a passenger in a car on Thursday morning, and we stopped for a fill-up at a gas station on North Charles Street in Baltimore, a block up from North Avenue. I was on the phone while the driver purchased and pumped the gasoline. A young, male panhandler tried to make eye contact with me through the passenger’s side window, but I avoided being drawn into his tractor beam.

Some panhandlers appear broken and docile, some seem impatient and even angry; some have yellow heroin eyes or some other form of medicated stare. This one seemed a little frustrated by a series of rush-hour rejections.

Had I a mind to, I might have advised the panhandler against seeking donations from people paying nearly $4 a gallon for gasoline. Certainly there must be other locations where potential donors would be less cash-conscious and in more generous moods.

Instead, I stayed focused on the phone call and ignored the panhandler’s pleading eyes.

Call me cold-hearted, but, yes, I skipped this one. In fact, I’ve ignored many panhandlers over the years. For one thing, I often have nothing to give because I go days at a time without cash in my wallet or coins in my pocket. Sometimes the timing is bad, or I don’t like the way I’ve been approached, or I’m in a lousy mood, or I make the instant judgment that my dollar will likely go to booze or dope. I’m sure I’m not the only Baltimore denizen who makes a decision about giving to a panhandler on a case-by-case basis, just as there are some who never give, and some who give every time.

Read the whole story: The Baltimore Sun