Theos-Talk Archives (September 1998 Message tl00009)

What you say is true. However, like in so many other situations, each one
of us have to decide for ourselves how we want to act or help whether with
money or food or in other ways. The fact we are atleast aware of the needy
is a good beginning, in my opinion.

mkr

At 03:16 PM 9/29/98 -0400, you wrote:
>
>In a message dated 9/23/98 10:25:57 PM, mkr wrote:
>
><<If these people are really hungry, my little help may
>alleviate a bit of their hunger.>>
>
>I like this in theory, but I've tested it several times in downtown D.C. by
>offering to buy or give the person food instead of money.  Sometimes the food
>offering is accepted, but other times, it is turned down (several times by
>people who asked for money, claiming to be hungry), in which case I conclude
>the person really wants cash rather than food, for whatever purpose I don't
>know - but I don't necessarily want to finance someone else's drug or alcohol
>habit, for example.  I think that what it means to be poor or homeless can
>have more complicated causes in our society than simple, extreme hunger such
>as you might find in a place like Calcutta.
>
>Would be interested to know what others think about giving cash versus other
>forms of charity.  Also - must we give to everyone who catches our attention?
>or can we ethically focus only on the charities we want our money to go to,
>ignoring the rest?
>Christine
>