The Good Samaritan, Panhandlers, and My Agenda
Talk about the Good Samaritan. Not.
I'm driving home from church. I make a major turn to get to my comfortable home and eat my choice of lunch. Across the street from a gas station, in a more or less vacant lot, a young woman is standing with a make-shift sign on the remains of a cardboard box asking for money so that her children can have Christmas.
My first response was anger.
1. I am generally disturbed by panhandlers. Especially in an economy with a low employment rate. I have been employed since I was 16--almost 48 years. I have done all kinds of jobs. I worked 4 jobs at one time when my husband was unemployed. Gender doesn't matter. Women are more likely to get jobs nowadays than men.
2. I am generally disturbed by panhandlers because they are so often scams.
3. Christmas presents for her children (a month away) are not a necessity. If she needs food, there are ways to be fed. If she needs a home, that's a different matter.
4. I get angry when people show their children this is a legitimate way to get one's needs met. Either the children will follow the example, or more likely, will be shamed and embarrassed.
5. This is typical "playing off guilt." She is saying, "You have plenty--aren't you ashamed to let me stand here when you have plenty and I don't?"
I tried to argue with myself that perhaps this woman had a justification to be there. Perhaps she knows nothing else. Perhaps she really is in need (see #3 above).
Where am I wrong here?
I am wrong because I drove past, not because I didn't give her money. I am wrong because I did not stop my car to ask her what the deal is, not because I don't feel guilty. If she really needed something, I could go across the street and buy some milk, bread, and peanut butter for nutrition for her children, but not give money outright.
I am wrong because I dismissed another human being and allowed my ideology more place than human reality.
There is a famous psychological study involving seminary students who were assigned to preach in homiletics class about the Good Samaritan. The experiment was set up that they would need to pass by a certain spot before the class, and they would see a homeless-type man (a plant) lying on the sidewalk. Most of them passed by on the other side. (http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/darley_samarit.html). There's more to it than this, but "hurriedness" seemed to be a factor. I was in a hurry to get home and write this post.
I'm driving home from church. I make a major turn to get to my comfortable home and eat my choice of lunch. Across the street from a gas station, in a more or less vacant lot, a young woman is standing with a make-shift sign on the remains of a cardboard box asking for money so that her children can have Christmas.
My first response was anger.
1. I am generally disturbed by panhandlers. Especially in an economy with a low employment rate. I have been employed since I was 16--almost 48 years. I have done all kinds of jobs. I worked 4 jobs at one time when my husband was unemployed. Gender doesn't matter. Women are more likely to get jobs nowadays than men.
2. I am generally disturbed by panhandlers because they are so often scams.
3. Christmas presents for her children (a month away) are not a necessity. If she needs food, there are ways to be fed. If she needs a home, that's a different matter.
4. I get angry when people show their children this is a legitimate way to get one's needs met. Either the children will follow the example, or more likely, will be shamed and embarrassed.
5. This is typical "playing off guilt." She is saying, "You have plenty--aren't you ashamed to let me stand here when you have plenty and I don't?"
I tried to argue with myself that perhaps this woman had a justification to be there. Perhaps she knows nothing else. Perhaps she really is in need (see #3 above).
Where am I wrong here?
I am wrong because I drove past, not because I didn't give her money. I am wrong because I did not stop my car to ask her what the deal is, not because I don't feel guilty. If she really needed something, I could go across the street and buy some milk, bread, and peanut butter for nutrition for her children, but not give money outright.
I am wrong because I dismissed another human being and allowed my ideology more place than human reality.
There is a famous psychological study involving seminary students who were assigned to preach in homiletics class about the Good Samaritan. The experiment was set up that they would need to pass by a certain spot before the class, and they would see a homeless-type man (a plant) lying on the sidewalk. Most of them passed by on the other side. (http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/darley_samarit.html). There's more to it than this, but "hurriedness" seemed to be a factor. I was in a hurry to get home and write this post.
Comments