LOL! If it helps, you aren't heartless, you're pragmatic.
While checking out, I had the cashier at the grocery store ask if I wanted to buy one of the pre-packed bags they sell at a low cost in order to 'help the hungry'. I told her no. She looked shocked and asked 'why'?. I told her "I've seen the people that show up to collect them, and most of them are driving cars that are 12 years newer than mine.....maybe that's WHY they're hungry!"
(This doesn't mean I'm not empathetic to people in dire straights, but DANG it's hard when you see welfare lines filled with people whose faces are glued to IPods and have impeccably manicured nails!)
I've pretty much stopped giving to just about everything except the red kettle at Christmastime.
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Okay, whose turn is it on the soapbox?
:-)
I think most of us have had similar experiences. More than once I’ve been behind some using food stamps to buy cigarettes and alcohol, even though that’s supposed to be a no-no. I’ve also heard (not actually seen) of food stamps being traded for cash at $.20 on the dollar. Things like that just piss me off.