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Old November 9, 2009, 06:43 PM   #29
MLeake
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 15, 2007
Location: Outside KC, MO
Posts: 10,128
Helping others...

I'm not opposed to helping others.

However, I don't give money to people I don't know, unless they are working for an organization that is familiar to me.

I'm quite happy to help the little old lady with a flat tire. I've carried an air conditioning unit from a car to a 2nd floor for a little old lady who asked me to help her with it - this happened in a Boston suburb, and I found it very amusing that she'd ask a strange man in shorts and a tank top to help her - guess I looked both harmless and capable of lifting and carrying heavy objects.

I've pulled over at roadside accidents. I've gone after people who swam out a bit too far. I've gone up to a burning duplex to make sure nobody was in the house (I was with a buddy when we happened to drive by that one; we split up to hit each unit, and there were people in both, none of whom had any idea that the back wall of the house was in flames); we ended up outside with a garden hose on the flames, waiting for the FD. (Not picking on the FD, they responded with admirable speed, we just thought there was no point in not trying while we waited.)

But I don't feel the slightest bit of guilt over not giving money to scammers and panhandlers. Nor do I feel bad about not picking up hitchhikers (although I have offered rides to guys in uniform, near basic training bases, who got caught by rainstorms while walking back to base from liberty).

If I can see the accident scene, or the actual problem, then I am fairly sure of what is happening, and will do what I can. If somebody is telling me a story, then I have to make a leap of faith that past experience has taught me not to take.

And if somebody looks or feels wrong, I have no problem telling them to back off, now.
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