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Am I helping? [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-11-19
It used to be that there’d occasionally be someone selling flowers at the traffic light. Now there’s often someone there with a sign asking for help.
It used to be that these people were almost always men. Now they’re often women. And lately these women are bringing their children with them.
I was shopping in Columbia, Maryland a few weeks ago. (Columbia is in Howard County, which is one of the wealthiest counties in the US). There was a man and woman there with their 2 small kids, seated at the intersection next to the traffic light, asking for help. I had no money, so didn’t do anything.
Today I was in Bowie, Md. (that’s in Prince Georges County, which isn’t as wealthy as Howard County). At the traffic light, there stood a woman with a sign asking for help as she clutched a small child* and rocked him as he slept. I had cash (not as likely to be true since Covid) and I gave it to her.
Question is — should I have done that?
*The child was bigger than a baby — toddler size -- and I couldn’t see the face. It was a hard to believe that a child that big could be sleeping so soundly that a woman could stand out at a traffic light for any period of time, so it might be a scam. (Maybe I’d just prefer to think it’s a scam?)
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