Driving around any typical city in Brazil we’ll find an abundance of beggars practically at every intersection of significance. Today for an example, as I wound my way through town it dawned on me that at many traffic signals there were beggars working every automobile that found itself delayed by a crimson light. Their coordination seemed to be so well thought-out, I was wondering if organized labor had become involved in their efforts to collect everyone’s spare change.
Here’s where I’m begging for your help! – At what point do we not give beggars our spare change? I don’t know about you, but for me it’s necessary to exercise a considerable amount of self-restraint as I struggle to avoid analyzing and speculating (only on mere assumptions) as to what sins against society did these beggars commit for which they are now fatally appointed to their intersection. I would imagine this would present a challenge for most people as it does for me. My rational mind finds it necessary to evaluate them, or as I think more appropriate, “Size em’ up really quick!” so that I can somehow determine if they are worthy of my spare change. - We all know the drill, “He’s an ex-convict. He’s lazy. He’s an alcoholic, I'm not going to let him use my money to buy more alcohol just so he can go home and beat his wife and kids. And for sure – God forbid to buy more drugs!” – There’s a thousand questions that instantly gallop through my mind.
But, what about the children, the women and the senior adults that we frequently see dutifully assigned to the intersections? What’s their story? And more importantly, what should be our response? Every day we see equal numbers of children, women and frazzled seniors begging for us to help with life’s basic needs, or so we think. Actually we can never know the truth, other than the fact that their lives through whatever circumstances have been reduced to begging at intersections for our spare change.
So, still begging for your input, if I am going to give away my spare change, who’s the priority and at what point do I stop giving beggars my spare change? – (This beggar stuff is becoming a complicated business.) If we tell them that “we don’t have any money”, did we just lie to them when we know full well we could easily access some of it by simply driving to the nearest ATM machine? Would that be true if we were on our way to Starbucks for our designer’s cup of latte? – Or how about this one? Is it possible for our money to become “spare change” if we are only holding it to purchase our kids the latest version of the iPhone, or we’re rolling over to test-drive the 2010 Beemer that just arrived in the showroom? When does the money we use to refurnish or renovate our already palatial casa (compared to theirs), become “spare change”? Or why doesn’t the money being set aside for that next Caribbean cruise get titled, “spare change”? – Oh boy! Can you imagine the impact to a beggar’s life if the volume of our “spare change” made its way to their intersections? We’ll probably never know, will we?
All of this leads back to my original question: “At what point do we not give beggars our spare change?” – I suppose the more important question becomes “What and where is your spare change?”
"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. Because wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.” – Matthew 6:19-21
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