Back off topic
-- Nothing written after my post about percentages of mentally ill homeless, the number of them anyone faces in a day, how distruptive they are, how much the offer in exchange like a song, etc - none of that speaks to what I wrote. Don't have the time for due dilligence, but just one note:
I choose to give, or not to give, period. I do not presume that I know better than the beggar how to spend what I give. I'm not looking to build up Heaven Points or anything like that. All I'm doing is giving him the same respect I'd give anyone I passed in the street - I am not giving him pity, or derision, nor am I romanticizing his condition in macro-social terms, nor using his plight as reason to be thankful for my fortune (although that creeps in), nor as reason to consider myself in any way superior.
If I give, I give, and let him pass on. I can barely understand the direction signs on my own road. I cannot tell him how to find his way.