If I help a beggar, he will be more drawn into that profession and if I donot, I have a guilt feeling ?

Question

What is the way out ?

Answer 1

my thing is, if i am near one and something inside me tells me not to give to this person, i follow it. sometimes i see that someone is really suffering or just looking for a person to be nice to them so i help them. others though are lazy wastes that can help themselves and they dont. you shouldnt be afraid to say no to who you want to. after all people tell them no all day everyday.

Answer 2

No person should EVER have to stand alone with hand outstretched towards the arrogant and the contemptuous. But whether we believe food banks and homeless shelters are cordon bleu and the Marriot or not, the fact is, panhandling still happens.

But who are we to demand to know what a beggar needs money for? It's none of our business what our pathetic quarter is going to be used for. Give it with love and compassion or don't. Have you ever been down and out?

The dominant feeling tearing these broken people up inside is that they're worthless garbage and deserve only what pennies the affluent and well-fed toss in their face. They don't think of the future, they just live in the misery that is now. Most wish they were dead so what's the use in getting a job? Most are just waiting until they don't wake up some morning. How can any one of us imagine that suffering?

We are our brothers' keepers. Plain and simple.

Either give what you can with love or walk by and feel guilty ... or in the case of most people these days, don't feel a speck of guilt about leaving a human being in the gutter.

Answer 3

I have no idea if you're asking this question as a Christian or not, so I'll just give you a general answer.

If you feel compassion for that person and have the means to offer some assistance, then yes, you should help. Your conscience knows this already, and that's why you feel guilty. If unfortunate circumstances ever placed you in such a situation, would you hope that others would help you?

True, a homeless person could use any money you give them to buy alchohol, OR they might use it to buy a meal - maybe the only one they've had in a while. The point is, we can't decide what they do with our help. We can only decide whether we are willing to give it or not. What does your conscience say?

Answer 4

If the weather is cold I will go and buy him a cup of tea and a hot pie. I am more inclined to help if he is selling the Big Issue but sometimes it's just a look that can make the decision for me. I would hate to think my son or husband or father would ever have to resort to that way of life.

Answer 5

It's a very tough position. I think if he's still got some sense in his mind, he'll feel more than what you think he'll feel if you give him money. He might actually not become greedy at all and just take a moment to realize what in the hell he's doing, and it might make him get his life back on track somehow, some way.

I once gave $5 to a homeless Vet by accident. He had alcohol smell in his breath. Don't do what I did.

Answer 6

Jeff answered the Way I would.
Pangel-you are wrong-all over the world many have made this a profession and documentaries on t.v. have exposed it as such finding that many have loads of money made off a compassionate but gullible people.

Answer 7

Most of them do it because they dont have a choice...either they beg or they starve. It isnt exactly fun to eat cold macdonalds out of the trash can when its already been chewed by someone else.
I buy them some food, I dont give them cash

Answer 8

I don't see anything wrong with helping someone who is reduced to begging. There probably is a reason for it. I put myself in their place. But I also try to give them some information on places they could get help too. Didn't Christ say something like "What you have done unto the least of my brothers you have done for me?"

Answer 9

it isnt a profession
why would anyone choose that as a profession
it is just the way it is , most likely due to bad circumstances
and it is difficult for anyone to get out of
for some , it becomes a way of life because they dont know how to get out
it feels safe for them
for others , they would get out of it in a flash if they could

Answer 10

Ignore the beggar... they are pigeon food. Help your fellow man, those who contribute back. Those that eat and do no work are waste.

edit: crystallinenectar: does that work? I'd be willing to help someone get into the act if I knew how... not giving them a chair when they want to sit.