Reminds me of somebody I used to know...

Via Wired: Oh, the (Lack of) Humanity

Slipped a homeless guy a buck the other day. After he mumbled off down the street, my companion sniffed her disapproval: "It only encourages them, you know. And he'll just use it for drugs or alcohol."

I had looked him squarely in his gimlet eye. I could smell his breath. Safe to say she was right.

"Who the hell cares what he uses it for?" I said. "If it kills the pain for a few hours, I'm happy to help."

The do-gooders call this "enabling" and in their simple, black-and-white world this can do the poor street addict nothing but harm. I'll agree it does him little good. But in the moment it took me to fish a dollar from my pocket, press it into his dirty hand and wish him luck, I connected with him, one human being to another.

I'd suggest that's more helpful than stepping over the guy like he's a piece of garbage, or lecturing him about the importance of personal responsibility when he asks for spare change.