[mikecane]

Sorry to break it to you, but some are con artists and people have been burned too many times.

1) I helped a blind guy once. It was a ruse to try to get money out of me. He could have found his way easily.

2) For several months, there was this young guy who seemed to have a horribly twisted body begging for change daily. One day we saw him walking down the street perfectly normal. There was never anything wrong with him.

It's not lack of compassion at all. It's being sick of being taken for a sucker. The evil isn't in the people wary of helping. It's in those who faked the need for help.

EDITED to add: The above is not academic. I live in NYC, where these cons flourish.

[sek]

Lets say i was one time incredibly stupid, it did cost me 50€ and since then i never trusted anyone on the street.

We have taxes for social care, that is what i pay for not being bothered on the street. If someone asks me to call the abulance or the police i do it, but don't believe anything else.

From Germany.