Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Respecting Choice

Scenario: A homeless woman approaches you for money as you are standing on the street corner….

Typical response: I’ll only give you money as long as I know and trust the money will be put towards “good” use (i.e. healthy food, rather than for the purchase of alcohol/cigarettes).

Why do we feel and act this way towards the homeless population? It is because we truly want them to benefit from our spare change and make what we consider “right” choices? Or is it upsetting to us if they take our money and utilize it a way which we disagree with? Everyone has the right to freedom of choice and who are we to tell them they MUST spend the money on what we consider acceptable usages? We do not mandate or regulate monetary birthday gifts, so why should we be so concerned about the few dollars we technically gifted to them? Although we may not agree on the choices they make, choice is a universal right. As I wonder the streets of D.C I wonder, how do we respect this concept?

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