Wednesday, November 08, 2006

What would you do?

Today I treated myself to a coffee at Starbucks (Gingerbread Lattes are nowout, Woot Woot) sitting by the door was a gentlemen that had been weathered by the outside, obviously hungry and homeless. He could hardly stay awake, he was so weak. He kindly and unobtrusively asked if I had any change. Unfortunately, I never carry change so I apologetically said "no."

My heart aches when I see people in these situations, it is only during these times that I wish God would let me win the lottery so that I could help. Sadly, I am not a lottery winner. I decided that I was going to give up my luxury of coffee and buy this gentlemen a coffee. But first in situations like this I have learned to ask the establishment about their policy about these kind of situations. The barista requested that I not buy anything for him because it only encourages people to come back. They promised me that they would handle the situation and give the gentlmen something.

But I just feel sad that this world has come to a place that we can not help those who are needy because we are afraid that they will inconvenience society or make others uncomfortable. We should feel uncomfortable, we should feel guilty. We are living a blessed life that God has bestowed on us, it was freely given, we should freely give away. I feel disappointed in myself that I gave in so easily. What would you do in this situation? more importantly what can we do to help this situation?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hmm. interesting situation. and one many of us find ourselves in regularly, i'm sure.

i'm sure there can be hours of discussion, sermons and even conferences held over such topics. but what comes to mind right now is this: don't let guilt be your main motivating factor. let generosity be. i'm still learning that.

and in the meantime, it's good to at least listen to your conscience, leah.