Cowardly Kindness

Today, while loading groceries into the back of my car, I was approached by a young woman pushing a little girl about Beanie's age in a stroller. She very politely asked me if I could spare a dollar because she was stranded there with her daughter, waiting for a friend to come pick them up, and she wanted to buy her some milk but was short on money. I promptly gave her a dollar and wished her good luck with everything, and off she went. Situations like this always leave me afterward with all these misgivings and doubts and guilt though.

Did I just get taken by a con artist with a really good sob story and even better "prop" (i.e. the little one with the big old eyes staring up at you)? Possibly. Maybe even probably. Is she really going to use that money to buy milk (or anything) for that baby girl? Hopefully, but it could as easily be for drugs or alcohol or anything. I will never know.

Should I have done more? Offered them a ride (I even had an open car seat as Beanie wasn't with me)? Given more money? Asked if I could help them in some other way? Given her some of the food I just bought but probably didn't need?

And that little girl... I am overcome with gratitude that MY little girl has a safe place to live, plenty of food to eat, good medical care when needed, tons of people who love her and protect her from harm, a whole lifetime of opportunity ahead of her. I pray I'm never in a position where I have to take her with me to ask for spare change to buy her milk. And I pray that little girl really got her milk, and a ride to a safe, cozy home full of people who love her.

I feel like a coward for not doing more, and a schmuck for possibly falling for a con, all at the same time. So, as I drove away, all I could do was pray for them. And wonder. And doubt. And hope - always that.