My daughter and I went to the grocery store this afternoon.  On our way out, with all the stuff we bought on both hands, a lady approached us and began telling us that  her bag was slashed and she needed some coins for transportation to get home. She explained that her wallet was taken, and even her ATM card was gone, and pointed to the bag which she clutched between her arms. I noticed the slash she was talking about and  I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the lady, and immediately pulled out money from my pocket and handed it to her.  Just as we walked away from the lady, a little boy in the street who was running around playing chase with other little boys approached us and asked for some coins too.  I told the boy to go away and he continued playing chase with his friends.  My daughter who had been quietly observing me began asking me why I gave the lady some money and refused the little boy who asked for money too.  I had to explain to her the difference between the lady and the little boy. 

It isn’t a habit of mine to give alms to just about every beggar who approaches me for alms.   In this country, you find a beggar in almost every corner of the streets.  Some of them, they say, are members of syndicates who hire little children to beg for alms and require these kids to collect and submit to them a certain amount after a whole day of begging.  There was even a time when my fiancé and I were buying from a store near our house when a familiar old lady walked in and approached the counter to have a bag full of coins changed to bills.   I was so amazed to realize that the old lady was one of the beggars I saw on the bridge on our way home everyday!

There are times, though, when I refuse a beggar and get that certain feeling that I should have given that beggar something.  It’s like a gut feeling within you, when you feel that this person is genuinely in need of a few coins from anyone who could give him something.  The lady who approached us didn’t look like a beggar at all.  I told my daughter that she instantly reminded me of myself a few years back when I was on my way to work and found  that my purse had been slashed.  Fortunately, it had a cloth lining inside, and so the slasher failed to steal anything at all from me.  Oh, I was so thankful that day!