No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

This is a really big topic of discussion in Memphis. We have had recent reports of professional panhandlers who brag about making $26 an hour on unsuspecting, trustworthy tourists in our downtown! Bottom line - JUST DON'T DO IT! Don't get me wrong. I have given away my fair share of dollar bills, change, etc., but I will do this no more. If you want to contribute to the homeless, donate money to respectable charities who work with the homeless or donate your time to a soup kitchen.

Maybe I'm just skeptical after moving here, but I just don't trust any person on the street anymore. Recently, a client of ours was at a gas station, and a seemingly homeless lady was there with a baby and was begging for rides to a shelter, so our client decided to do what she thought was the only right thing to do and gave the woman and her baby a ride. Lady pulled a gun on her and shot her several times in the chest while they were driving down the road. Then she somehow managed to push Heather out of the car into the middle of the street, and then took off driving like a mad woman. It ended in a high-speed chase with the car flipping and the baby flying all around the car (wasn't in a car seat). Shit like this happens all the time. I try not to take any chances.

Anyway, she survived the wounds, though was in the hospital for a very long time, and she has turned this into an almost positive experience by setting up a scholarship for the teenage girl who saved her life by applying pressure to the gun wounds while they waited for the ambulance.

Sorry, I've rambled off a lot here, but bottom line, I just feel you shouldn't give to these "bums" anymore. Save that money for your daughter; it would be better spent that way.

I just read the post from No Impact Man. I dunno; I think his motives for giving to street charity are rather selfish. I have almost the opposite effect - when I give someone money on the street, instead of clearing my conscience, I start thinking about all the drugs or alcohol they will buy with the money they've collected, and I'll begin to feel guilty that I'm feeding into someone's addictions or alcoholism. That could be the entire reason why they're on the street in the first place.

Oh, well, perhaps I have these negative thoughts because I don't have Jesus in my life. I am not religious, nor spiritual.

Or, perhaps, all this panhandler angst goes back to the time I lived in the Fort in Knoxville, and the same guy knocked on my door three separate occasions, each time rather late at night, asking for money, so he could get a cab ride to the hospital because his sister was there. The first time, my friend Keith gave him some cash. The second time, I told him to go away. The last straw was when it was 2 in the morning! Both of those times, I reminded him that he had already told me this story a month ago and that, no, I would not be giving him money.

I was about to start on another homeless story when I realized I'm sure you've heard enough. Why do I have so many stories about run-ins with homeless men? Hmm.