Showing kindness to strangers

This is one of my favorite things to do. Give a ride or give them some money, wanting nothing in return. Let my right hand give, without the left knowing. I think it is funny when people try and tell me not to give money to the homeless on the corners. I do think I've become more generous as I get older and milder.
My brother came out here to California and laughed at me giving to homeless. He said he saw a show where this guy was begging for money and at the end of the his day he jumped into his expensive car and drove away to his condo. I said that's Hollywood for you

 

Helping someone in need, such as the victim of an accident or someone who falls ill in the street is second nature to me. However scroungers are a different matter, since most of them have underlying problems,frequently alcohol and drugs. so money alone will not help. Our daughter is a London police officer and some of the people who she comes across on night shift almost reduce her to tears. Fortunately their are charities willing to help these people back into society and she concentrates on persuading them to take the first step. She has only come across a few people of the type that you mentioned and they exchanged their night in a condo with a night in a police cell, followed by an interview with a tax inspector.

 

You're not supposed to tell of your good acts.

Toot-Toot...

 

Again, this forum has begun to wear on me. Hopefully this time I don't come back

 

I would rather interact with this post than 49 different ways of jumping up and down in bed. LOL.

 

Your kind of kindness is a kind of strangeness to me...

 

It's awesome that you try to help people, good on ya.

It might be better to give away food, socks, ect. rather than money, since in many cases the money will go to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, etc.

With colder weather, gloves and warm coats might be good choices

 

Perhaps after working for London ambulance service and having a daughter who is an experienced police officer I see things slightly differently. Here in London, some people will hand out money to alcoholics and drug addicts, while others will step over someone in hypoglycemic shock or suffering a heart attack and as for the con artist beggars, I have seen pensioners hand them money. Is their anything in particular that you find strange or uncaring in my attitude.

 

It is your assumption that alcoholics and drug addicts too don't need help that that irks me. They make up a vast proportion of the homeless in London, and there are often reasons why they have ended up in their sad predicament. I find your attitude morally superior, and suggest you consider the real reasons for the plight of the socially destitute, which I'm sure the intelligence displayed by the quality of your diction could easily surmise, if you would only open up your mind and see that the inevitable effect of an imbalance of wealth distribution in society is accompanied by a commensurate increase in insecurity, danger, mental ill-health and alcohol/substance abuse amongst the poor.

 

That was the main point that I made in my first reply. Helping then onto a path of recovery is far better than handing them money to feed their addiction. Volunteer staff who take these people hot drinks late at night have become the victims of a few drug crazed assaults, hence the reason that our daughter keeps an eye on them. From there she has regularly helped many of them on the road to recovery. The charity set up by the London Evening Standard has given police a lifeline to help these people and is fully supported by the Metropolitan police commissioner. If you met my daughter or myself, I am sure that you would not find anything superior or blinkered in our attitude, Sadly, their are a few people who don't respond to offers of help. I wish that I knew the answer to these problems, but they are mostly people who have lived on the streets for a number of years. The most shocking thing is the guys who have been made redundant from a good job and been disowned or kicked out by their own family. The society that we live in is far from perfect. While I mentioned our daughter, a lot of other police officers spend many hours of their night shift in a similar way. Offering them referral to the charity as an alternative to arrest for a minor crime is a win win situation. These cold nights, their have been cases where a guy has openly urinated on a police vehicle to get a night in a warm cell and some food. These are the sort of things that most people never see.

 

Maybe I'm A Bit "Thick Between The Ears"....... But I Can't See Your Reasoning In Making

This Post.....???....



Cheers Glen.

 

Showing kindness to strangers is a good thing. My day is undoubtedly brightened whenever someone I don't know does something nice for me.

Pope Francis actually has one of my favorite opinions on giving to the homeless: Opinion | The Pope on Panhandling: Give Without Worry

I think it was because someone accused him (maybe playfully) of tooting his own horn.

 

Matthew 6

 

I'm not sure why wilsjane posted what he did, but I don't think not giving money to someone who has a high probability of being an addict is a bad idea.

My point in saying it's better not to give cash to homeless people is not that they are undeserving, or to blame for being homeless, or to make other accusations against them. The fact remains, however, that a lot of homeless people are struggling with addictions, and if an addict (any addict, homeless or not) has money and has the opportunity to buy the drug of their addiction, they are almost certainly going to spend that money getting that drug. Imho, helping an addict get their drug is just helping them to self-destruct.

 

Yeah i've stopped giving money to the homeless, I used to be all for it but drug addiction and pan handlers who don't really need to be pannhandling made me think twice.

I do occassionally donate to this man who routinely takes supplies to my city's tent city.

 

kindness can take many forms. consideration or the lack of it creates the kind of world we all have to live in.
(and it doesn't even take love or even trust, just logic really)

 

Its because he gets the same amount of respect he gives others. Granted, in this thread he sounds rather neutral but he changed his tune too late. Also, most people who conversed regularly with him simply KNOW this is only temporarily. So yeah, we simply got to know him and that really doesn't suit him. He will come back after a while though, acting as his old self. Wanna bet?

 

consideration is by far the greater kindness then trying to make up for lack of it with other forms of generosity.

 

I like this post. I think I'm more often on the receiving end of kindness from strangers. I like the idea of "paying it forward", especially after something good happens to me. I could be better with doing so though.

 

realize this is an old thread... but to anyone who might peruse it... I sometimes buy small cans of hand-openable (ring-top pulls) food and hand it out to people begging. Feeding someone is far better than handing out money that will often be used for alcohol or other drugs, or if they're mentally ill, could make them a target for theft for those who are abusing drugs and want this money. I've never had anyone throw the food back at me. Charities often hand out food from various sources: restaurants that have afternoon or evening leftovers that would get tossed in the garbage because of health codes. The food isn't garbage, but health codes require that it be tossed... Pork and beans, vienna sausages... stuff that has protein along with some carbs and that you know tastes good to most people. It's not expensive food and it is portable and won't spoil. You can keep it in your car if you regularly pass spots where people have signs and are reachable as you stop at a red light. I feel so sad that so little is done for these folks. Part of it is they don't seek help, part of it is cities don't try to get them to help. Too many cracks these folks fall between.