To Give or Not To Give?

Last Wednesday when I was in the pasar malam I came across two beggars. Both beggars had lost one of their legs and they are crawling with their hands and their bellies on the ground. They have a piece of plastic cover to placed under their bellies of course. When I looked at them felt this huge amount of sympathy towards these two beggars until my logical part of my brain tell me that two beggars with the same handicap, crawling on plastic covers (which even had the same quality and colour) I tell myself they might be from some underground syndicate preying on our sympaties. So I resisted the urge to put money in their containers.

After walking around I come back to where those two beggars are crawling and my heart felt heavy with sympathy again (believe it or not, I have a soft heart). Then again I am in the dillema of either to donate or not. At the end I resisted that urge and go with my logical part of my brain and just walk away.

Sometimes I really wish to help those beggars by donating but news of underground syndicates who pray on our sympathies and news of how some beggars are even richer than our parents with an honest job just make me think another way. Sometimes because of these people we don't know who are the real ones who need our help and who don't. If only this world is a little more straightforward.