I heard about this story last week on the news, and frankly it has helped eased some of my fears about giving money to strangers that ask for it. Ever since the "incident" that occurred to me two years ago when I picked up a woman who seemed to be in distress but turned out to be a hooker who, once in my car, attempted to feel me up and "borrow" $20 for which she'd "pay me back" I've been a little uneasy about helping out others. But I've come to the realization that I am being really crummy in being so stingy. There are people that need help and I (most of the time) have the means to help out, and I should. There's a safety level in doing so, I guess, and so I'm in no way going to stop for a beggar or suspicious looking person in an out-of-the-way area of town, but I can still float a buck here or there.

Last night was the first time I've done that in two years.

A man came up to me and claimed that it was his sister who was strangled the night before and that he needed 35 cents to buy papaers for "tabacco". I felt bad for him, I mean, he had a tear in his left eye that just spoke so much and for a minute I felt his pain...and then he started to tell me how the only thing you've got, when it comes down to it, was family and love. How could I refuse him? I really didn't care if he was buying papers to roll himself a joint or if he was going to buy a twenty-two at that point. I believed that he was in pain, and even if he was lying about it being his sister that was killed, I could still see that he was in pain and a buck is such a little price to pay to allow someone else to ease that pain for even a little while. So I gave him a dollar and told him I was sorry about his sister. Because I was.

Maybe I was stupid in giving him money -- falling for a hard-luck story that I had never heard before, I don't know...but maybe I've been stupid these last two years too. All I know is that I really need to open my heart more, help out when I can...even when I really can't or shouldn't.