I'm with you, abaya.
Never. I used to
always give to panhandlers until I was exposed to the "other side". The fact is that most homeless that truly care are taking advantage of the many programs and forms of assistance out there for them. The panhandlers choose to live in the street because they don't like following the rules and curfews, which -- much as I hate to say -- means they'd rather take their chances if they can buy themselves a bottle of booze.
I'm not totally cruel, though. If there's fast food around, I will offer to buy them a burger. Nine times out of ten, they turn it down. They're saving up for the next bottle.
