mixedmedia

I don't know, for me it has nothing to do with sympathy or whether they are on the street by force or by choice. It's just my impulse to give when I'm asked for something that, ultimately, doesn't mean that much to me. I'd give a buck to a co-worker if they asked for it. Why not a stranger on the street? So I don't buy a pack of sour skittles that day or forego the bag of chips with my sandwich at lunch. I couldn't care less.

Granted, I don't live or work in an area with a lot of panhandlers so I totally understand the necessity of limiting what you give on a limited budget. I don't understand the compulsion to be mean-spirited about it. If you don't want to, don't give. Even if they've made a choice that this is what they want to do - their way of "making a living" - I can name quite a few "real jobs" that I, personally, find to be a more distasteful way of getting by.

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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce