By offering to buy food instead of giving cash, you are saying that you are not trusting that his pleas for money is sincere. You are calling him a liar and implying that he would be buying alcohol or drugs instead of food for the money. So having to accept the aid from you would feel very degrading and I wouldn't either if I was a hungry beggar. I think even if you are a beggar you deserve some dignity.
I don't think it was stipulated that this beggar was starving. Have you been a beggar and have you had people offer to buy food instead of giving cash? Not saying you are wrong, but I don't understand why you say that my explanation is off base.
By offering to buy food instead of giving cash, you are saying that you are not trusting that his pleas for money is sincere.
Not necessarily. There a couple homeless people who hang around outside a cafe near where I work. When I pass them, I'll offer to buy them a coffee and some food. I don't give cash because I don't carry any. I carry plastic so offer to buy them whatever they want.
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By offering to buy food instead of giving cash, you are saying that you are not trusting that his pleas for money is sincere. You are calling him a liar and implying that he would be buying alcohol or drugs instead of food for the money. So having to accept the aid from you would feel very degrading and I wouldn't either if I was a hungry beggar. I think even if you are a beggar you deserve some dignity.
You're off base there, mate. Or maybe you've just never been actually physically starving.
If all he wanted was money, he should have said so. By refusing to accept what he was asking for he was proving to be less than trustworthy.
I don't think it was stipulated that this beggar was starving. Have you been a beggar and have you had people offer to buy food instead of giving cash? Not saying you are wrong, but I don't understand why you say that my explanation is off base.
Not necessarily. There a couple homeless people who hang around outside a cafe near where I work. When I pass them, I'll offer to buy them a coffee and some food. I don't give cash because I don't carry any. I carry plastic so offer to buy them whatever they want.
Beggars can't be choosers - literally.
On top of the trust issue, one advantage of giving food to a beggar is that he is much less likely to get mugged for food than for cash.