慈善(Jizen) in Japanese (and actually, Chinese) means compassion, charity, or benevolence, which I imagine encompasses giving to the poor, helping the less fortunate, etc. Those are sort of the values we were ingrained of as children, or from religious goods, or just common sense as a human being, to help the common man.
Unfortunately, the world is not as rosy and pure as the concept of "jizen" or compassion is, and believe it or not there are people who pray upon that sense of kindness. Well, people who have drug problems/ money problems/ addiction problems who no pretty much are no longer able to help themselves. I deal with lots of these people every day in downtown Los Angeles (used to be more seedy back in the day, now better from what I understand but still have plenty of wanderers out there). They'll come up with any kind of story, be it needing to take the bus (where are they going, I wonder), being a homeless veteran, or needing to feed hungry children at home. Now, I haven't ruled out the possibility that any of these stories are actually true, but the odds are highly against it, especially when you see the same person on the same street corner the next day and the next day and the next doing the same routine. I've also heard stories about how seemingly homeless people begging for food during the day go home to live in their mansion at night. It's a powerful thing, human compassion, and if channeled correctly can lead to miracles, but giving to homeless people is not that channel.
First of all, don't homeless people have "homeless shelters" to go to? I know for a fact they have soup kitchens, so the whole "I need to buy food" rhetoric is false.....the soup kitchens probably don't taste good, sure, but there's an age old proverb in almost every culture that says "Beggars can't be choosers."
I do feel bad for the mentally ill who are unable to help themselves and have no one to rely on, but unfortunately those people are screwed over by the people who are pretending to be helpless when in fact they are just trying to get money for their next score (of drugs). It's sad because it's a perfect example of a good thing being manipulated by human nature into a weakness.
My "learn from this story" was being stopped at a gas station once and approached by a couple who said their car broke down and they needed some gas. Must have been feeling really generous, gullibe, or irrational, or a combo of all of those, but decided to help, they asked for $20 dollars (TWENTY DOLLARS!!!! A dead giveaway) and I said I'd put $3 for their gas. No sooner had I told the cashier to put in $3, lo and behold, the couple started their engine and bolted out of the gas station, making sure to tell me to "Go eat do-do" before leaving the premises. And thus after traumatizing experience, I no longer give to people who ask me on the street.
It's like a key or earplugs that one needs to switch on to defend against these attacks on human compassion, it's so much better to donate to a charity one trusts or has seen the results of the money than to just hand it to a stranger. Which is unfortunate because I still think homeless guys standing on corners and people giving them money....I mean, those homeless guys wouldn't be there if people didn't give money, right? It seems like a direct contribution to the illegal drug market, in my opinion. Give them an apple or orange or something, a really desperately hungry person would take that (I've been there on my vacations! Lol)
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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