Panhandlers and Homeless Stories: Do You Give Them Money?

Whether you’re religious or not and no matter the affiliation, you might have heard a saying something to the effect of ‘there but for the grace of God go I,’ believed to be first used by John Bradford in the mid 1550’s when he witnessed other prisoners being led to execution after his imprisonment by Catholic Mary Tudor; who ascended to the throne after the death of Edward VI. In early summer of 1555, John Bradford was burned at the stake.

Bradford had been charged with the small crime of ‘trying to stir up a mob.’ In truth he was imprisoned and executed for his devotion to the Church of England by a Queen who was loyal to the Catholic Church. His statement ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ means that you could be in a bad situation similar to another’s if it wasn’t for God’s grace. I think of that saying when I see someone who is having a harder time than I am in the world.

Most people have seen homeless and/or jobless people by the side of the road with signs that say things like ‘Will work for food.’ With the economy in the state it’s in, who knows if that will become a more frequent occurrence. Some areas, by law, are banning people from panhandling. I’m never really sure what to do when I see someone beside the road with a sign like that. I wouldn’t invite a drifter to my home to do any kind of work. I don’t have a business somewhere that I could have them do an odd job. Other than personal safety, another reason I don’t know what to do because I don’t know if the person legitimately needs money for food to feed themselves or their families or if they use the money on drugs are alcohol. It’s not my place to judge the person one way or the other. The bottom line is doing what I feel right about.

Today was one of the hottest days of the summer so far this year and I was driving to buy a gift for my cousin’s new baby when I stopped for a red light and spotted a couple standing by the side of the road. They appeared to be about my age. The man wore jeans and a t-shirt with his hair in a ponytail and the woman wore shorts and a blouse. Her hair had at one time been bleached and was pulled back in a ponytail also. He was holding a sign that read ‘Stranded, need gas money to get home.’

Red lights don’t last long so making a decision about what to do needed to be made quickly. What do you do? Do you give the person some money and hope they are legitimate and really need assistance? Do you look away and pretend to be doing something else so you don’t have to make eye contact and see that the person is desperate? What are you basing your decision on?

The decision is an individual one that I really don’t think has a right or wrong answer. Personal experience has much to do with the decision a person makes. Either they have had down times and have been helped by others or are able to just empathize with the plight of another person. If you can put yourself into the situation that another person finds them self in then you can better understand their struggles.

Some people have been scammed or taken advantage of before and are skeptical of any stranger that might request financial assistance. They may have a strong opinion against extending help to people who they can’t be sure really need it. It’s possible that they can’t comprehend that someone could end up in that indigent or homeless without being unwilling to find gainful employment or having put themselves in that position. The fear that they are being lied to or that their money maybe be used for things like drugs or alcohol keeps them from giving.

There are people in this world who will take advantage of any kindness extended to them. They will live off of any and every assistance program they can find to keep from being productive members of society. It happens and it’s a shame because those stories are the ones that make the news channels.

The stories that don’t make the news are stories of families that have done everything right and still end up homeless, indigent, or vagrants. These people are hardworking and willing to work but aren’t able to find work they are able to do or find work that pays enough to pay the bills. All beggars are not thieves.

So what tips the scales in one direction or the other? Do you listen to your instincts that tell you this person is really in need or this person is trying to scam me for money? Basically there is no real way to know for certain. The main thing to remember when you are deciding if you will help someone who is standing beside the road holding a sign is ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’