Should one give to beggars at traffic junctions?
By rocky777
@rocky777 (353)
India
February 29, 2008 7:57am CST
Where I live, in India, every traffic junction has a small posse of beggars who begin every day in the morning, before rush hour. Should one give to these beggars at the traffic junctions?
Before you start to think that I am a cruel, mean fisted beast, let me give you the background of these 'beggars'. More often than not, these pathetically dressed and dirty looking people, often with infants in their arms, are part of a gang of professional beggars. They arrive in the morning by private autorickshaw taxi (tuk-tuk), they even get 'lunch' delivered to them by an autorickshaw taxi. They are aggressive beggars, difficult ot shoo away, all because people do give in to their mournful plaints. By evening when they have 'earned' enough, they get picked up again by autorickshaw taxi. I personally feel these 'beggars' should be locked up. If you do want to donate, please do, but not in a public place where this begging is an impediment to traffic and an outright public nuisance.
5 responses
@ayou82 (3450)
• Philippines
1 Mar 08
Never ever give anything to beggars on a traffic junctions coz they can distract your concentration.. You might commit accident by doing that and statistics shows that a lot of accidents that happens on the street are caused by them. And you are teaching them to be lazy and depend their life on other peoples hand.
1 person likes this
@creationhub (3066)
• Malaysia
1 Mar 08
I do believe in charity. But we have to be wise on how we give. I personally do not give freely and easily to every beggar or charities around.
Most of the time, we do not solve a problem by giving. In fact, we are creating a new problem by our giving. So let's be careful how we give.
@lavenderbloom (1057)
• United Arab Emirates
1 Mar 08
I will never encourage a beggar at traffic junctions. It is really very dangerous to do so. I have seen people throwing out money or coins to the beggar who without thinking about the traffic, start searching for the coins and if the signal starts then it can become more dangerous. It is best to avoid such beggars at the traffic junction.
I believe in donating or giving food to poor people. It is always best to give food to the hungry, clothes to the needy rather than giving money to these beggars who have made this act a profession.
@chris1314 (784)
•
29 Feb 08
Here in the UK we dont have any beggers at the lights or anywhere, except the odd ones in towns :/ But when i visited Toronto, in Canada, we noticed that they are at every junchtion, they wernt agressive, but tehy are very nerve racking, especially if you are in the car on your own :/ I saw that quite a few people were giving to them, just to make them go away. as we were always together, we didnt give them anything. I agree with you, i think that there should be something done about these people =]
Chris
@goldwin65 (935)
• Malaysia
29 Feb 08
Back in the 70ans and 80ans there were a lots of beggars in our street. It was a real nuisance and what surprised us most was when the news started to spread that some beggars living a luxurious life and having 2 wives. Can you believe that? Later the city council took action against them and now not a soul can be found in our street. So, don't pity them. It certain countries, I made to understand that the syndicate play the beggars out by forcing the kids to be beggars and collect all their collection for the day. The syndicate even chopped off their body parts so that they really look like handicapped beggars.
1 person likes this
