Perhaps
I’ve been involved too long in various and sundry benevolent ministries. But it is a painful fact that there are
people who really aren’t interested in working.
I remember being thoroughly cursed by a fellow seeking help who told me
he needed a job but hadn’t been able to secure work. I informed him I thought I could help him
out. I immediately got on the phone and
called a member of the church who had told me he was looking for help (this was
during wheat harvest). The member told
me to send him straight out. He had a
job if he wanted it. Instead of thanking
me, it made the man furious! He spewed
some amazing invective at me before storming out. He obviously didn’t want a job, he wanted a
hand out.
My
observation is that many of those “Will Work for Food” signs aren’t real
sincere. However, the purveyors of the signs know that a sign saying “Really
not interested in working, Just Want Your Money” probably won’t draw a great
deal of sympathetic help. So, if I reward those who, in a sense, may be working
at not working, am I really doing them a favor?
Through
the years I’ve personally tried to operate on the principle of “It’s better to
be ripped off a dozen times than to refuse to help that one person who really
needs it.” Consequently, I’ve been taken
a number of times. I know I have. And that’s okay. God will sort all that out. But beggars on corners are, in my opinion, a
different moral challenge. They are,
straightforwardly, saying “Give me something for nothing.” For the most part, they are making no pretense
of working to improve their lot other than standing for hours with their hands
out.
The
entrance/exit to the Walmart store in Muskogee has become a favorite place for
beggars. A man or woman, dressed in a
bright work vest (ironically) for safety’s sake, is stationed there on a raised
yellow-painted lane divider from mid-morning till late evening every day. They stand there in the heat or cold or
wind. The wait at the traffic light allows
them to catch the vehicles exiting left onto the street from the parking lot. The signs they hold will vary – “Need Help”; “Can’t
find work”; “Children need food”. The
posture they adopt is remarkably similar – shoulders slumped, eyes lowered (but not enough to keep them from checking the
line to see if someone has rolled down their window). One is fairly elderly – his sign says he is
in his seventies. Others appear
middle-aged. Interestingly, they’re
often smoking a cigarette (raising the natural question, “If you’ve got money
to buy cigarettes…).
Their
presence has raised a number of questions in my mind. Do they have to register with the
police? Does Walmart regulate their
presence? Since they all wear the work
vests it makes me think someone is requiring it. Do they have certain hours when certain
beggars beg? Is it like shift work? Is there some kind of pecking order in regard
to who gets dibs on the times when traffic flow is the greatest? Is there someone official to settle squabbles
over who gets to beg when? Curious minds
want to know...
What
kind of money do they generate in a day?
Do they get to keep it or have to hand it off to someone else? In India, for instance, the children who beg
are closely watched and beaten if they don’t turn over the money they receive to
their handlers. Is it that way with
these folks?
My observation,
based on sitting at the light waiting to turn left, is that most vehicles don’t
give them anything. I have no idea what
percentage does. Obviously, it is great
enough to be worth it to the beggars to stand out there day after day.
I’ll
confess, I rarely give them anything.
That is the result of a set of conflicting emotions that generated the
title for this little blog – the Compassion Conundrum.
I do
feel sorry for them. To be honest, I’m
also a little angry at them and probably a little resentful too. I feel sorry for them because it has to be
the pits to be a beggar. Maybe I’ve got
too much false pride, but I would rather starve or freeze than stand there with
a sign trying to mooch money off people.
Maybe they’re not, maybe they are, but I would be embarrassed and
humiliated.
I’m a
little angry at them for a couple of reasons.
Scripture and common sense say “get a job.” Paul will tell the Thessalonians in 2 Thess
3:10 – “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” A minimum wage job is still a job. You’re earning your way. You may need some extra help, but you’re
working and contributing to society, not leaching off of it. Since the Garden of Eden (Gen 3), man is to
earn his keep by the sweat of his brow.
That’s honorable and right.
Standing and looking pitiful with a sign in your hands contributes
nothing to anyone except you.
I’m also
a little resentful because, frankly, beggars make me feel guilty. Am I stone cold hearted because I won’t help
these unfortunate individuals? Am I not
showing them agape as I should? Am I
being selfish and self-centered? I
really don’t think so. But I resent
being made to feel guilty because I have something and they don’t (and, oh by
the way, I worked for it).
You
see, to me, here’s the compassion conundrum.
If I give that beggar a dollar or two, it may assuage my conscience, may
make me feel good about myself for a minute, but is it really the right thing
to do? If I, in a sense, reward an
individual for not working, am I not motivating him/her in the wrong
direction? Are we really doing him/her a
favor, and pleasing our God in the process, when we hand over some cash?
Just
asking…
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