Living downtown poses it's ethical dilemmas. One of those is that of helping out beggars. I distinctly remember a debate my accounting class had at BYU of whether or not we should give to beggars on the street.
"Aren't we all beggars? We shouldn't judge them, but give freely. It's not our responsibility with what they do with the money."
"God gave us the ability to reason and be smart with what we have. We shouldn't just throw our money at beggars, but give it to organizations we trust."
"I give them food or socks instead of money".
With my roommate having the same thoughts, we decided to do a little experiment. We wanted to see how much money we would give away if we gave 50 cents to every beggar we saw in the month of February (This was back in 2011 when I was jobless). There were, of course, rules. The beggar had to have a sign, meaning he was soliciting help - even if the sign said "Not going to lie, it's for booze" or didn't say anything at all (which did happen). The beggar had to be on your side of the street, meaning that you would not alter your route in anyway to give to the beggar. You may switch lanes, and the beggar could be on any side of a one-way street.
I ended up seeing a total of 43 beggars in February. My roommate only saw 18. I figure that's because she actually works most of the day, while I tended to drive in the middle of the day.
I would have given $21.50 that month. That's $258 a year. Probably more, considering the Summer months will probably be more populated with the ever so popular sun-bathing beggars.
I should have some concluding thought about the amount of money, or a decision I have made about helping out these beggars, but I don't. Truth is, the debate still continues in my head.
4 comments:
I have the same debate. It frustrates me that I can't figure out what to do. I guess you could always take the money you would have given to the beggars directly and give it to Denver's Road Home instead?
I know that in Poky our ward gave to a homeless shelter, so if you gave to fast offerings, you were helping there. I also decided to give out $5 a week. Once it was gone, it was gone. I haven't had that problem since I have moved though. :)
I think about this all the time. We have four beggars outside of my work who have been here for years. They will only accept money and won't take other forms of help. I feel guilty everyday I see them. They are people too! :\
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