[ethikal]

I think all of us battle with those feelings. In this circumstance, what you did was the right thing.

On one occasion, I was driving through on Market St towards Castro when I saw a disheveled younger man in his twenties with a sign "Don't want money. Just food." As I pulled up to a stoplight, I turned to my girlfriend and asked, "do we have anything?" And we did - two bagels and a croissant. We didn't mind going hungry because once we gave him the food, he did a giddy little dance... as if there were nothing else in the world that could've made him happier.

That said, on a totally different circumstance, while eating outside at Union Sq I was approached by a bum who "just wanted food." After I got up from the table and asked him to lead the way to the "pizza place" he wanted to grab something from, he realized his bluff had been called and he walked away (he was hoping that I would be lazy and just give him some money).

I guess this boils down to a bigger philosophical question, which is "am I doing the right thing, or am I getting taken advantage of?" My solution is to go the extra mile and assume the best of people. Just put the right checks in place so that you can also avoid getting taken advantage of.