To Give or Not To Give

“I’m on a tight budget, Howard, and I need to get an IPhone. How am I going to make 600 bucks very quickly?”

“Hmm, well, Gordy, you could get another job, an honest, paying job. We’ll hit up Craigslist.com and find some quick side jobs like landscaping, moving, or painting. We’ll find you a job where you work for good people, people with integrity, people with values, Gordy. Sure, you’ll work hard but it’ll be worth it. Think of it as a life lesson.”

“Uhh, honesty? Integrity? Life lessons? Sounds…lame. I need something fast, quick, and lucrative. Fuck morals. I just need 600 bucks. I’m not out to find a purpose in my life, make lifelong friends, or learn the meaning of hard, honest work. I just need 600 bucks.”

“Gordy, I don’t know what you’re getting at here but…”

“I’m going to scam people! I’m going to trick them into thinking I am homeless! A beggar! A pauper! They’ll have to give me money. No one turns down a homeless guy these days. First, I have to get the look. That means no shaving, no showering, and no brushing. I’ll head to Goodwill and get some sweatpants and flannels. I’ll come up with a heart wrenching story about my parents dying and how I’ve been on the streets since I was 12. Then, I’ll head to the nice part of town and feed off of other people’s integrity, compassion, and warmth. This is the perfect scam! My act, my story, my look will be so tight, there will be no way people will be able to distinguish me from a person who is really in need. Brilliant! They’ll think I live under the docks in a cardboard box and have no job. Little do they know, I’m an accountant that lives with his parents. I’ll give them hope, Howard. I’ll tell them of my desire to turn it all around and how all I need is a couple bucks to get my feet planted, get a job, and start down a better path towards a new life. It’s going to be so easy it’s sad, HAHA. Let’s see, we’ll average, say, two bucks a person every ten minutes, that’s 12 dollars an…”

(Turns to camera, cue melodramatic piano music, background fades to black)

“It is sad, very sad. See, what Gordy thinks is a quick, fun, easy way to make some cash is really a terribly immoral scam that will ultimately send him down a path towards total immorality, a world filled with cheap thrills, empty promises, and quick fixes. In addition to his own demise, he is making money at others’ expense. By feeding off of people’s compassion, warmth, and integrity, he is only adding to the degradation of society as a whole. Way to go, Gord! And it seemed so simple…

By now, your mind is racing. You’re wondering, how do we determine if a homeless person is really homeless or is faking it? You’ve seen the potential ease of the scenario and you’re left confused as to what to do next time someone asks for a handout. How do we decide whether to give money to a homeless person? Is that homeless man a scam artist or a person in need? In a perfect world, this ethical controversy wouldn’t exist. But the world just isn’t full of rainbows, butterflies, and dreams that come true."

You could do one of two things. You could never give money to anyone in fear that they are all scam artists making six-figures as accountants during the weekdays. You could refuse to lend the helping hand to someone in need because you think they might be faking it. And, you could live a very selfish and introverted life wherein what is yours, is yours and no one else’s. But, hey, you’ll never get duped out of money, right?

Or, you could give money to every person that ever asks for a handout knowing that they will use it for a meal or a jacket. You could have so much faith in the human race that you trust each individual person has inside of them very honest qualities. You could be completely free of judgment for a homeless person and what he or she wishes to do with that buck you gave him.

Ultimately, it is your choice. It is your choice what you do for your fellow man or woman. It is your choice where you would like to take this little thing we call, the human race. It is your choice what you will contribute.

But personally, I think Mike Tyson says it perfectly…Stacey McKinley on Mike Tyson: "He sees a guy beggin' in the street and he gives him a hundred dollars. I'll say, 'Man, y'know the guy's just gonna spend it on crack!' But he says, 'I leave it to Allah to judge him.'"