Bugging Beggars

I hate it when they approach me. I always feel this dilemma whether I shall give them or not. The toughest part is you never know whether these people are sincere or not.

Lately, I have vowed to myself to donate more money to the poor. In addition to the religious benefits, I will feel spiritually better if I make my own contribution to society and help in drawing a smile on the face of the miserable.

I am willing to donate for any cause except:

1. People with sawed off hands in Saudi Arabia ----because they were former thiefs
   
2. Building more mosques ---in my neighborhood, there are 8 mosques. Only 3 of them are in excellent conditions. The rest are either small, dirty or not air conditioned. I'd rather have all that money used in building the other 5 mosques spent in improving the current ones. Having 3 or 4 good mosques is much better than having 8 mosques in low conditions
   

I still need to figure out the best approach. Shall I donate a specified percentage each month to those non-profitable organization such as Cancer Association, People with disabilities etc. These organizations will distribute money accordingly. However, it would be more meaningful and valuable if you see someone in need and give him/her the money personally. They'll greatly appreciate it, thank you and some might pray for you.

But the toughest part is that I am not good at understanding people. It is hard to tell if the person is truthful or not. You might argue that what is important is the good intention. But I still don't want to feel that I've been robbed by someone who exploited my sympathy.

You see a lot of those guys especially in mosques after Friday prayer. He'd stand up and complain how his mom died of prostate cancer, his wife is divorced, and his brother was nuked. He'd be carrying his passed-out son who was diagnosed of breast cancer and will die if he wasn't operated. I'd feel sorry for him, but I'll still hesitate and think million times before donating money.

The other day I was sitting in a coffee shop with my friend. A young, Indonesian kid who is 5 to 6 years old passes by us and using this heart-breaking tone to beg us to buy gums from him. I felt sorry for him and I gave him some money. Half an hour later, the same kid comes by. Or at least I think it is him. All Indonesian kids shave their heads that its hard to tell them apart…no wait, it is HIM. My friend scolded him because I already gave him money so why did he come back. The kid, trying to act clueless, denied that he got any money from me. Now that was unbelievable. I was very furious that for the first time in my life I felt like raping (killing) a kid. I was doing all those gruesome stuff to him in my head

Another funny story I recall was when we were sitting at a different coffee shop in the same area. A young 7 or 8 year old girl approaches my friend:

"Please buy from meeeeee"

Him: ……

"May God grant you a son"

Him: "I am not even married"

"May God bless you with a daughter"

……

"May God open the doors of Heaven for you"

….

At the moment, I think she was telling herself that this guy cannot be marketed by the normal punch lines. So she had to go with tactics 2:

"May God give you a Maybech"

Loooooool. I laughed from the top of my lungs. It was hilarious. This girl is in the road begging for money and she knows the Maybech. My friend was confused and didn't even know about it. While I was trying to explain to him that this is the luxurious car ever, she goes:

"May God give you a HUMMER"