Maybe you know this, or maybe you don’t. Giving money to someone that needs it more than you do is TOP NOTCH. Now, I give money to my church (that I don’t attend very often) every month. That doesn’t necessarily feel all that good. That’s more like paying a monthly subscription to your religion. I’m talking about giving money directly to someone that can use it for basic life needs right at that moment.
Last weekend, my wife and daughter and I went in to the city to go to a childrens museum. This children’s museum happens to be right by a large community area that has lots of restaurants. Some homeless people tend to hang out there to warm up and just exist somewhere that it isn’t rainy and cold. After going to the museum, we decided to get something to eat in this large indoor area. While we were sitting there, I noticed that there was a man sitting at a table about ten feet away. He was just sitting there and wasn’t bothering anyone. It was obvious he hadn’t slept a ton (who would when you are homeless). I watched him for awhile and then saw his friend come sit down with him. As I sat there with my family, I couldn’t get over something that I’d heard a homeless person say years ago. He said, “When you are homeless, it’s like you don’t exist. People will go out of their way to make sure they don’t acknowledge you. They fear you. They fear you may ask them for something”. These guys were obviously hungry and they weren’t asking anyone for anything as they sat there. I decided that I wanted to give them $20. At first I thought, “what if they use it to buy alcohol?” Then I decided I didn’t care what they used it for. As I approached them I had a terrible thought. “What if these guys aren’t homeless? What if they are just not very clean, and are hanging out there for the day?” I hesitated and wandered around a bit as I worked it out in my head. I was nervous. What if they reacted terribly to my offer. What if they felt like I was putting them down by giving them money? I finally got up the nerve and walked up to them and said, “Hey guys. Can you use a $20?” They looked at me for a second and then smiled and said. “Yes, we sure can”. I handed them the $20 and told them to take care. What surprised me was how long I felt good about doing that. Had they asked me for the money I would have said, NO.
We left and did a few things. About 30 minutes later, as we were passing through the same area again, I glanced over and saw them both sitting there with large plates of food that were just about finished off. I felt satisfaction and relief that they’d put that money to good use and had filled their stomachs.
I highly recommend you do this once in awhile. I’m going to do it a lot more often than I used to. I’m also going to make a point to acknowledge people on the street that are less fortunate than I am. I probably won’t give them all money, but I will let them know that they aren’t invisible.