The out-stretched hand

Via my facebook page, I saw something that hit me and had bothered me....

"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we've got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that [H]e commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it."
~ Stephen Colbert

How many of us have walked past an outstretched hand? I know all the excuses we've used:

1. He'll just use it for drugs
2. He'll just use it for alcohol
3. He just pockets it; he's really rich and just wants tax-free money! I've watched that TV show years ago ....
4. I need it more: gas prices are so high! [Have you been to Denmark?]
5. It just wouldn't do much good; I only have 50 pence to offer and that won't buy anything substantial
6. I've seen him at the same highway off ramp / market / gas station for the last three weeks; he's "working" the place!

As a nation, we just don't "trust" any more. We're so damned uptight that we can't see anything but a cynical end-result. I have bills, too. I'm unemployed (and, no, I'm not on any government-paid aid [or any aid] of any kind). I can't truly say: "I can't afford it." But what about when I could? What about executives who walk out of the market and [look at their faces!] speed up and walk by as fast as possible past these people with looks of disgust! ["If I don't watch my ass, I'll end up like HIM!"]

A conversation with a friend (in the early 1990s) yielded an idea: don't give money - buy dinner at a local restaurant (US: Denny's or the like). Tell the clerk: "Here's 20 quid; just bring him whatever that will afford and let him keep the change."

In a discussion with a different group of friends (mid 1990s), that idea was majorly hosed down. "Why don't you sit with him?" Well, no argument that was offered escaped the person's [probable] appearance: dishevelled, smelly, torn clothes, unshorn, and [one person actually said:] feral. Would you sit with THIS stranger in a publicly-visible place? It saddened us that we're such an image-based society. One true comment made: "Are you kidding me? Someone I know might see me there and wonder what the f*** I was doing! If my family heard [...]." I'm sure you can guess the rest of that sentence; I won't bother with it. Yeah, it was the same guy who said "feral" [above].

As humans in a first-world society, ... how can we ignore the out-stretched hand?

I love that you posted this. We really don't seem to trust or care about each other anymore. My grandmother would always ask us "What if that person is Jesus?" Now when I pass by any person who's in need of money I try and offer them something...though I've never gone out of my way to give them a ride or buy them dinner. Probably won't give them a ride (my parents would kill me!...you know if the hitchhiker didn't...:pinch: ) but I could easily take someone to lunch or dinner. My mother, while working at a bookstore, would have lunch and play cards with the resident homeless guy everyday on her break. She said it was one of the best things (as in fun and fullfilling) she has ever done.

Thank you for posting. And I hope it encourages a lot of us to do better...because we can.

i always give what i can, even if it means all my change or me being late... you never really know what the persons been through or how much you give or what you give will do... but the intention you have is the seed, and in the end that's all you can truly give someone.

Wife passed a guy lying down on the street the other day, near work. She's nice looking so has had a lot of experiences with dangerous men (stalkers etc) and would not go anywhere near him as a result, but she went straight to security and took them over to check him out.

They told her no-one had reported it despite it being right next to the only entry to the building with a couple of hundred employee's. How many people just drove past and ignored a guy lying down motionless on the side the road!!!!

I was once one of the unfortunate with the outstretched hand. I understand that I look a bit unorthodox or a bit intimidating, but truly, from the many other outstretched hands I've met, a large number actually dont have any bad intentions towards the ones their hands are stretched out to. Usually, they only ask for the money so they can get a drug fix, alcohol, food, and warmth. Not to pull the other down and hurt them.
There are the select few (like myself in the past) who really messed up and are just trying to get back on their feet. Any amount of change or paper put into their hand will give them a better sense of purpose and drive.
I always try to help. Not just because I've been there, but because everyone deserves a chance (excluding the obvious like rapists, murderers, etc). We're all equal human beings here, so why not show that equality by helping eachother out?

I always give...even to my detriment...I was unemployed for 3 years...now I finally have a job (though it's only 2 days a week)...but even when unemployed I gave, usually it was my time or knowledge since I rarely had money...now that I do work I have to save up so I can get my license back (suspended for no insurance) and on this very day I gave half the money I had managed to save to help my sister bail my nephew out when he deserves not to be released...