This is so fine at many levels.

Wonderful portrait and such a sad hopeful refrain,

"Whenever and wherever compassion has been made compulsory the people soon find they no longer have care or quartas to spare."

While I will remain "Always Faithful" (http://www.semperfifund.org/donate.html) to my brothers in need, the rest I can't spare for. Hell, the way business is going every quarter counts...in my pocket.

Good post.

Well, I can at least juggle when it comes my turn to beg on the streets.

I'd add that all these youth organizations and sports clubs with their hands out are not helping to raise my compassion quotient. I see these kids as beggars, nothing more. The least they can do is have a car wash or some other activity that is useful.

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I suppose this makes me a bad person.

No, I don't think so. There is more to compassion than thrusting cash in the direction of every begging hand. Yes, it's good to give, but there's nothing wrong with discernment, in fact I think it's necessary. Sometimes, it's more compassionate to say no.

One of the consequences of modern communications is that it's so much easier for people to show, in gruesome detail, the urgent miseries of the world, and we are inundated constantly with requests for help. But there will always be a gaping hole of needs to be filled, and it is the responsibility of no single person to fill them.

Seems to me you've chosen a good way to do that.

And since quartas are indeed in increasingly short supply, we may all be finding, in years to come, that compassion is given and received in something more and less tangible than money, anyway.

"If we could inhabit any one of the endless utopias proposed to us by the dreamers and schemers among us, all would be well and all manner of things would be well. But we live in the world of sun, rain, dirt, steel and flesh where all that is needed for evil to triumph is that good men remain distracted by snake-oil hallucinations of perfection."

Thanks for that....

You've touched on something powerfully important. An Ultimate Issue as Dennis Prager would say. At the risk of being labeled a Prager groupie, which is probably a fair characterization, I'll paraphrase his take on the issue.

Compassion is a necessary, essential value... in the private. Standards are necessary in the public. This is the divide where left and right separate. The left wishes to apply compassion in the macro. "Some men see things as they are and ask, "Why?" I dream things that never were and ask, "Why not?" - RFK

The left's conceit that, because they are good people, their desire for Utopia will always result in good, leads to policies which take the many quartas out of your pocket to redistribute them in the name of public compassion. The result, of course, is the degradation of character of the needy citizenry and the resentment of the formerly charitable citizenry. If we agree on this, we understand why you (and I) feel the way we do about all the people asking for our money.

But, but, but... I try to fight the misguided ideas of the left at the ballot box, at tea parties, online, and in private conversation and to exercise compassion on the street corner.

I share the following, not because I wish to self-promote, but because I received the idea from a friend and wish to pass it on in the hope that good will be increased in the world.

During Lent this year, I learned that a friend carries granola bars in her car, which she hands out to panhandlers as she comes across them. Being suburbanites, we have the advantage of spending lots of time in the car where we can carry such things. However, I decided to go a little further and bought a stack of Walmart gift cards as well.

I've handed out three so far - our panhandlers are becoming more numerous, but are still dispersed. These three encounters are some of the most profound in my year. I try to make eye contact, ask a question (Can you make it to Walmart? Would you like a granola bar?). Each time, the person has blessed me. Blessed me! I, who am already so blessed. Ah - what can I say? I encourage you to practice compassion one on one.

I've had an epiphany recently. There are two conditions which keep us from bringing Christ to others or others to Christ. The first is self-condemnation. The second is condemnation of others.

God Bless,
WC

Western Chauvinist.

That is beautiful.

So are you.

Yesterday at Target a woman accousted me in the parking lot and asked if I could help her out; she was trying to get money to file a job application or something such story. She wasn't drunk, didn't seem to have the shakes, was clean and I simply couldn't say no. I reached into my wallet and found only one $20---no ones or anything. So I gave it to her. I simply wasn't in compassion fatigue at that moment. She took it and said to me that she knew I must think she would spend it poorly but she assured me she would not. I walked on to my car. But she followed me for a moment and said "God bless you." Her gratitude was palpable. I was glad I had helped her, and that I could.

A while back I commuted to Manhattan from Connecticut on the Metro North out of Grand Central Station. The was a guy there for years. Big guy, about 6'5". He never said a word but he had the perfect hang dog look. Just stood there with a cup in his folded hands. One evening I missed my train and wandered over to "Mickey Mantle's" watering hole for a drink. He was at the bar drinking Johnnie Walker Black.

I think I'm with you there, bro.

I'm a Christian and am thus called upon to exercise some of that old-fashioned compassion for the poor. I have found that the people most eager to hit me over the head with this, however, are those who don't believe at all. I rarely seem to get self-righteous lectures on compassion from fellow Christians.

Well, there IS my cousin's wife, but she is a horribly misguided lefty who still hasn't figured out that Christianity and her political ideals are profoundly incompatible. I try to avoid brawling with her for the sake of family harmony, but my main question for her would be, "What gives a secular government the right to take from non-believers and 'help' the poor in the name of Jesus? Shouldn't we believers be doing that without the government's army of IRS workers behind us?"

It's a case-in-point of something so simple, but which so many seem not to understand: That private voluntary charity is an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT animal than public-sector wealth redistribution, no matter how noble the aim or effective the delivery.

And the fact that so many seem to miss this critical distinction, I think, is why many of us are just plain tapped-out, both financially and in terms of "compassion." I sometimes argue with my church minister and/or fellow parishioners when told that I need to "give 10% right off the top." My answer is usually along the lines of, "I'd find that a lot easier to do if the government weren't already taking a frigging QUARTA of my paycheck."

Heh. There's that word again.

Out here in the urban jungle of Jakarta, it's easy to find all the beggars you could want, some of them as young as 5. Women with babies, too, as well as the occasional amputee or street singer. You can give them quartas (about 2500 rupiah) if that makes you feel good and salves your conscience. Problem is, the kids and women and amputees will only see a small fraction of the money. Look more closely at the major intersections and traffic circles where the beggars congregate. See him? No, over there, sitting next to the motorcycle taxi stand. Yeah, him, the tough-looking guy keeping a close eye on the action. That's the beggars' "handler", who works for the local "preman" or godfather. That's the organized crime boss who runs groups of beggars (who really are poor) to increase his own bottom line. He'll also do really despicable things like take babies from their mothers and give them to other women to hold while begging, to increase the sympathy factor. Sometimes, these women will pinch the kids--hard--in order to make them cry and generate even more sympathy. In return, the street kids and the rest get enough food and money to survive, barely. Westerners are viewed as particularly attractive targets, because we're all "rich", suckers for suffering kids, and most don't know how the system works. But what some other long-term residents and I have started to do is to carry around some local snacks that we can give out when caught at some of the interminable traffic lights (and traffic jams) they have around here. The snacks are fairly nutritious, the women and kids like them, and, unlike money, they're worthless to the thugs. That's life in the big city out here.

I used to give, from time to time. One day my wife reminded me that I do work pretty hard for my money; there were times I did day labor to pay the rent and the bills. She pointed out that everyone has problems, but some of us do something about them and some don't.

Rewarding begging encourages more begging. So now, I don't give any money to beggars.

Had my epiphany last fall. The agency where I volunteered gives out school supplies to pre-registered clients.
I was checking families in and heard one mom say to another: "Last year, we got..."
Last year? and you're back again? We are not the Endless Carrousel of Free Stuff, nor are we meant to be.
After ten years, I decided to take a break.

Your take on Utopia and good men is golden.

I lived in South India from 1978 to 1979 on a language fellowship. Up the street from my apartment, at the intersection of my small street with the main road, there sat an old beggar with a long white beard and longer white hair. Every day, monsoon or blazing sun, he was there. I would pass him every day averting my eyes. He was just one more of many.

One day, my cook came to me horrified--"you must come right now with me--and bring money." She dragged me down the block first to the coconut salesman, then to the center of the crossroad (to break the coconut, of course), and then to the foot of the beggar.

"He's a good man," she said. "He just does not know. I will teach him. Please forgive him."

Meanwhile, a crowd had gathered about. They were apparently most interested in the transaction and seemed to approve of what my cook was saying.

She then instructed me to empty my pockets, including the bedes, in front of the beggar, to the wholehearted approval of the audience, and then she dragged me from the corner.

"The beggar chats everyday about the welfare of everyone on HIS block. He knows who gives, who does not give, and who should give but doesn't. For a while now, he has been saying that you could give at least a few paisa or an orange. He is YOUR beggar. Do not neglect him in the future."

I give something to them all everyday. Before Shabbat, I also give some oranges. Make no mistake--God listens to their cries.

The only people with tin cans I give to when out in public is the Salvation Army, VFW, American Legion, Goodfellows, etc.

William Grahm Sumner wrote 100 years ago "Capital, however, as we have seen, is the force by which civilization is maintained and carried on. The same piece of capital cannot be used in two ways.Every bit of capital, therefore, which is given to a shiftless and inefficient member of society, who makes no return for it, is diverted from a reproductive use; but if it was put into reproductive use, it would have to be granted in wages to an efficient and productive laborer. Hence the real sufferer by that kind of benevolence which consists in an expenditure of capital to protect the good-for-nothing is the industrious laborer." From the "Forgotten Man"

As mentioned in the post, today they are expanding from the simple request to entertainment (does this mean there really is an experience economy?), and the bums understand the overuse of sympathy alone.

Saw a bum on the street corner the other day with his resume: "disabled veteran". How can you stand all day on a street corner with a disability? He was only out there about a week, and I like to think one of the vet organizations I give to, took care of him, one way or the other.

Saith Brother Western Chauvinist: "I've had an epiphany recently. There are two conditions which keep us from bringing Christ to others or others to Christ. The first is self-condemnation. The second is condemnation of others."

I am going to suck on that piece of heart candy as a mental dessert for the sumptuous feast Gerard hath laid out for the main dish.

Your lady in Boston was a professional beggar, but I haven't seen one in a long time. For the ones choking my intersections a more honest transaction would be booze or a pill and cut out the middleman.

Most of these people have families who gave everything before they gave up. These people do not see themselves as hard up; they see us far more clearly than we see them.

One of the unintended consequences of the welfare state is the disappearance of the delineation that used to exist between "the deserving poor" and "the undeserving poor". See Olasky.

I only give to the ones missing limbs. (Eddie Murphy in 'Trading Places' notwithstanding.)

In an essay on my philosophy of government I said, "I believe citizens of nations have responsibilities to one another, but only those that they collectively choose. There is a social contract in effect but it is worthless if it is not entered into willingly. We do owe every person the opportunity to better their lives. (I call it a level playing field.) But they, in turn, owe it to society to make the effort. Providing help to those unable to improve their circumstances because of health or other legitimate reasons is best done by private charity, religious groups, and individuals, not the government. The Federal Government is too large and impersonal to adequately oversee such efforts. The closer the charity is to the end user, the more likely that it will get to the person who needs it and that it will end when the person no longer needs it." I still believe that.

As to personal giving to family or strangers. That is a matter for personal conscience. Like Gerard, my life experience has shown that most of such giving does not help and oft times makes things worse for receiver. I once gave $10 to a down and out Indian in Seattle. He asked for money for food. Foolish me. Two hours later I saw him being loaded, unconscious, into an ambulance. I have given and loaned money to family members to help them get their lives "right." It has helped only once. None of the "loans" have ever been repaid. Most of my compassionate aid for these people has actually been enabling them to continue to not get things right. When you realize that you are an enabler of failure, it changes your attitude about compassion.

My charity now resembles Gerard's - the Salvation Army, Wounded Warriors, Soldier's Angels, Rocky Mountain National Park, and occasionally others. Those on the street corners that need help can get it through myriads of organizations like Salvation Army, church groups, Health and Human Services (in WA state), veterans organizations, etc. No dearth of compassion for those in need out there - even family members.

I guess I understood from the day I got my first paycheck that true compassion is giving people the opportunity to work, create wealth and contribute to society. I have friends who routinely give money to anyone who asks. I don't try to bring them around to my position as long as they don't try to bring me around to theirs. And my line to the panhandlers who are aggressive is "Sorry, I gave at the office". Boy did I give at the office.

I once bought lunch for, and sat & ate lunch with, a squeegee guy named James who worked the Los Feliz Post Office in L.A. Nice guy.

Bought groceries for another squeegee man, Donald, who was working the parking lot of a grocery store in my neighborhood. Another nice guy.

Encouraged by those two positive encounters, I bought an egg-salad sandiwch for a woman begging outside a bookstore in Glendale. She spat at me and accused me of poisoning the sandwich.

Some friends & I were lunching in Burbank. Woman came by selling flowers "for Indian children." After several questions I got her to admit that the "Indian children" were hers. I bought a flower but told her she would have done better to drop the minority sympathy schtick .... I have more respect for people who just work to feed their kids than for people who play the poor minority card.

I don't give anything to any street beggars anymore, period. Not money, not food. Food for the Poor and Catholic Charities (plus the Bible League and our local no-kill pet shelter) get checks from me now.

Though I did lend, over the course of several occasions last year, about $250 to neighbors who were struggling. Got about $100 back. Then they moved away. This was not an insignificant amount of money for me, BTW. Next friend or neighbor who asks for help paying their electric/water/rent is going to get told sorry but no.

"Compassion" is a crap shoot. Sometimes you help someone who genuinely needs it & will make good use of it. Sometimes you just get spit on & gipped.

FWIW I don't see how involuntary (govt coerced) "charity" can be "charity." It's only charity and/or compassion when you do it freely. Otherwise it's just legalized theft by the government so the pols and bureaucrats can feel good about themselves, fark the ones who are actually paying for all of it out of their taxes.