Moral Dilemma

The Two Peas Blog challenge for today is this:

"A homeless person asks you for money on the street. Do you give them some or not. Why or why not."

Typically no. I too have seen those shows where they expose people who make a ton of money by begging. But I do have a story of a situation in where I did give the man money.

About 4 years ago I had to spend two weeks in a hospital in San Francisco. It was the general hospital so it was very run down and shabby. San Francisco is about 45 min. from where I live, and the hospital was on the far side of town. It would take anyone about 1 1/2 hours to get there. So it was very hard for friends or family to come visit me. I could not call anyone as it was long distance. I could call my work because it was an 800 number but really that did not satisfy the loneliness I felt. It was the lowest most lonely time of my life.

About 2 weeks after being released I had to drive down to this same hospital for a follow up. As I was leaving, feeling sad and down, I passed a young man who asked me for $10.00. I gave him my usual reply of "I have no money". He looked horrible "please mam, I need to get to the clinic for my methadone treatment." Thinking "wow that's a new one," I replied "No, I am sorry I have nothing." Remember I had now been out of work for four weeks. He replied, now crying, and looking truly desperate, "please mam, there is an ATM across the street, can we go there?" I again told him I had nothing in the bank and I was not lying. For some reason I felt this man was for real and not just an everyday begger.

As I walked away from him I was feeling lower than low. I knew I had exactly $10.00 in my purse. My last $10.00 I had. There was SOMETHING about this young man that was impacting my being. I could not stop thinking about him as I walked to my car. When I got to the third level of the parking garage I was still thinking about him. I walked to the edge and watched him for awhile. Everyone that walked by was not helping him. He was looking more and more desperate as I watched. Maybe being so lonely in the hospital was making me connect with how he was feeling. I observed a woman stop, take his hands and speak to him briefly but then she walked away giving him nothing." I lowered my head, and thought, "how can I turn my back on this poor man?"

I got into my car. Drove down to where he was, pulled up and stuck my arm out the window with the $10.00 bill in my hand. As he took my money he started to seriously cry now, squatting down next to my car. He said, "you wont believe what just happened. A lady just came by that had no money but she took my hands and prayed with me. She told me God would take care of me." I assured him this woman was right. He continued, "I don't believe in god, but after her prayer, and your help, I think I should re think my beliefs." I told him he should believe and please put this $10.00 to good use. Still crying, he told me he would do just that as he thanked me.

I swear, I just wanted to put this young man in my car right then and drive him to the nearest church. As I drove away, I had this overwhelming sense of impacting someones life more than I ever could with such a simple act of kindness. This man was DIFFERENT! I still to this day truly think I helped him. I am also a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason." Maybe I was meant to go to THAT hospital, to feel the LONELINESS that I felt, just so I could help this ONE man. I KNOW I did a good thing that day.

Would I give to a homeless person so freely again? Probably not. But this man was an exception and I have never regretted helping him. I get warm fuzzies every time I tell this story. What if he was my angel testing me? Weather he is my angel or not, I will be forever thankful I got the chance to help someone so much.