He suddenly sprang to life as he walked toward the second vehicle from the red light we were all waiting on. His outstretched hand received some amount of currency from the sleek & new looking Toyota SUV. He waived with the cardboard sign to the driver in appreciation for the gift. The light turned green and we began to ease through the intersection.
As I slowly moved passed him we made eye contact. He had resumed his position and held his sign pointing toward oncoming vehicles. "Homeless, sick, and in need. Anything helps. God bless." The cardboard sign was scrawled with handwritten lettering from a black marker. The eye contact was painfully awkward for me. I care about people. While I didn't have cash, I did have a few dollars worth of spare change. I pulled on through the intersection without stopping. The awkward feeling quickly passed and I was on my way.
I began to think about what had just happened. Why had I felt compelled to give to this man with a sign? Why had I felt so awkward making eye contact with him? Why had I not given?
I made a choice at that moment that turned into a model for life. I don't give money to guys (or ladies) on the side of the street with a sign. Let me try to explain why and then you can be the judge.
1. It's too easy. Handing a couple of bucks out the window of my car is easy for sure. Too easy in fact. It absolves me of real involvement and real change. I ease my conscious and the awkward encounter at the intersection by giving some spare change from my car cup holder. I've done my good deed for the day. I'm finished. Wow, with a buck thirty five, I've changed the world for at least one person... No, you haven't. It's too easy.
2. The answer to poverty is not money. Yeah, I know, that doesn't make sense. But there are deeper more systematic problems relating to poverty (and homelessness) than just a financial one. The problem of poverty is not a problem of dollar amount. If it were just a financial problem, our government could have solved it already. There are issues of money management, mental health, education, crisis situations, addictions, and more. Which leads to my next reason...
3. Throwing money at poverty often creates more problems than it solves. A few bucks may help meet some immediate needs, but does not change the factors that probably led to this situation to begin with. Your spare change may actually cause him to stay in the situation because he has found that gives immediate solutions to his immediate problems. Always dealing with the symptoms of poverty only really helps to create a larger root system of causes. It might ease your conscious, but it won't help the situation.
4. I'm into long term solutions. Ever heard the expression: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" That's not to dismiss the need to address some immediate or emergency needs, but that our attention needs to be on the long term goals of dealing with causes of and not symptoms of poverty.
5. I do not wish to be an enabler. There are some who have found themselves homeless or in poverty due to an ongoing battle with addiction. In these cases money is not only unhelpful, but downright harmful as cash enables them to continue to fund their addiction. Much of the sign toting folks at intersections are looking for their next fix or high. Your money is used support their addiction, not help them escape poverty. In other words, giving to that guy with the sign may actually keep him/her in a dangerous state of addiction as you have assisted in being an enabler.
Want some feasible options that will really help? As a pastor, I have committed myself to actually doing what a lot of churches talk about doing... ministering among the hurting and poor around us. From that experience, let me suggest a few things that might help you in navigating real help to the poor.
1. Have a conversation with the person. Prepare for a long winding erratic conversation. If you are wise enough you will begin to understand how that person arrived where they are. When you begin to talk to a person, they become more than a hard luck story. They become a person. They become someone with real needs that are more significant than a few bucks from your cup holder could ever solve.
2. Give to your local Rescue Mission, Salvation Army, homeless shelter, church, or social ministry center. Money without accountability or relationship is causing harm. Give regularly to those places, people, and ministries that are providing more than a dollar amount to address the problem of poverty. No institution or person is perfect, but they will probably be doing a better job than your four dollars at the intersection.
3. Get to know people who are in tough financial situations and form relationships. Interact with people at church or put yourself in a place where you have the opportunity to meet real people with real needs. Develop a relationship (you might find that poverty has it's own culture). Then work from that basis to meet a variety of the causes of poverty and not just the symptom of poverty.
4. You can't help everyone. Jesus told the disciples who, with their 'holier than thou' attitude, were critical of a woman who was anointing Jesus and claimed she should have sold the oil and gave it to the poor that they will always have the poor among them. While you cannot help everyone, you can help someone.
5. There is a deeper poverty than a financial one. Keep in mind with interacting with people that poverty is not the biggest problem in the world. It is no sin to be poor. In fact, James says that the love of money is the root of all kind of evil. Jesus even blessed those who were poor. Without discernment one might go through life seeking money. If that's you, one day you will meet someone with less material wealth than you but who possesses something inwardly that is eternal. That person will expose your poverty.
I haven't stopped giving. In fact, I believe I give more now. In addition to giving to my local church and other ministries aimed at the problem of poverty and homelessness, I have become personally involved in the lives of people. I give time and personal involvement.
So what do you think?
**I later went back to the intersection and helped the man I referred to above by developing a long term relationship that will hopefully lead to some real solutions.
Also check out...
Why I Don't Drink Alcohol
Why I Don't Play the Lottery
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