I understand your friend's position, certainly, but the idea that Carroll promotes (and that I endorse) is for the money to be given without judgment or preconditions; given purely and freely as a gift.
No matter who we are, there may be some other(s) who can and will find fault. Spending money on intoxicants, whether hard-earned or gratuitously received, may be easy to fault, but that's not the thrust behind Carroll's holiday gifting. It's more a recognition that if you have enough to give, why not just gift it -- acknowledge that the individual who's receiving it has the ability to do with it what they will. The recognition of their own (apparent) personal freedom of choice is part of the gift. Happy Holidays, Rick, to both you and Irene. *** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <rick@...> wrote: > > From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com] > On Behalf Of marekreavis > Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 10:53 AM > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: On the New York subway at Christmas > > > > > > Great story. > > John Carroll, a regular columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, has a > Christmas season tradition where he encourages everyone to go to their ATM > and draw out as much cash as they think that they can afford, and then take > that out to the streets and distribute as many $20 bills to the homeless and > street beggars as they have twenties to give. No questions or conditions, > just pure cash and for someone living on the streets (or just spending their > days there) a twenty dollar bill is a big boost. > > Maybe you can't do twenties, maybe the same routine with tens or fives would > be more suitable to your situation, but it's still a big chunk of kindness > for the receivers. > > Your story from "Metropolitan Diaries" reminded me of that tradition, thanks > for that. > > I sent this story out to my list and got feedback from one guy that he would > never give cash, as it would soon be converted into drugs or alcohol. He'd > rather give a coat, etc. >
