Giving

When I first moved to Vancouver, I was not used to seeing so many homeless people and having them ask for money. I gave to every person who asked me, I knew they might buy drugs or booze with it, but they also may have been hungry or in need of clothes. So I gave.

Then the stores in my neighborhood started putting up signs showing where the homeless could eat and sleep for free. They begged us not to give to beggers because they hung around bothering people and it affected their business.

This was a dilemma for me. Jesus said to give to those who ask, but everyone was telling me I was enabling and supplying these people with drugs and drink. I was not helping, they said, I was making things worse. So my mother, (who was living with us at the time), and I made a decision to be good citizens and to stop giving.

I found it very difficult to say no to people. It just hurt my heart. But I figured all the other people must be right. One day we were by the docks and an old man in a wheelchair asked us for a dollar. We knew people in wheelchairs are taken care of by the government, so we said we couldn't give him anything. We walked to the street corner and he wheeled along following us. "Could you spare fifty cents," he asked, as we waited for the light to change. "No," we answered. The next block he asked for a quarter, then a dime and finally a penny! He was so pitiful. My mom and I stopped and looked at each other and gave him all the money we had.

That day I stopped being a good citizen and went back to giving money away to everyone who asked. I felt so much better. Later on, I wondered if that man in the wheelchair was an angel sent to teach me a lesson, for I had prayed about this whole problem. I don't know, but I think it is possible.