Give some money/food to a needy or beggar before the needy or beggar comes to you. Write in the Journal how much blessed you felt or express your feelings while giving .
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Answer:
When a beggar asks for money, should we give them money or food instead?
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I don't oblige beggars.
After long deliberation I have come to believe they are begging because they get by begging. We, in our bid to help them, encourage them.
For long I too was in the dilemma. Sometimes I did shell out a few bucks despite knowing through TV and other means that it's a big racket. Many of the beggars own property, bank balance and force kids to beg. Few sights I myself have seen.
Once on a winter morning, my mother gave her shawl to a beggar woman who did not have enough clothing on her and we walked on. By chance I turned back a little while later and she had removed that shawl and was begging as before. As to giving food instead, on a train once I offered a packet of ParleG biscuits to a boy who was begging. That boy flatly refused and walked away giving me a dirty look. Similar incidents of them refusing food happened more than once.
They beg for they think it's easier to make money that way and suppose we don't help them they may take some other recourse. They may think of living with dignity. After all there's no dignity in begging.
I too try to help the poor differently. I try to pay for any services really well. I sometimes buy from the kids selling knick knacks on the pavement things that I don't really need just to bring some smile on their faces and some money in their pockets. I never haggle with vendors. And all this, of course, doesn't count as charity.
But alms , no, as a general rule. However, I'm open to make an exception too but only exceptionally.