Being kind to strangers

I try to do the whole "do onto others" thing and when there comes a time that I'm in a desperate situation, I hope there will be someone there to help me out. (Actually the last time I ended up in a big pickle, there were several people there to help pull me out.) Anyway, a college-aged guy (not like I'm one to talk and say that's young), came up to me as I was sitting on the train waiting for the last leg of my journey home to begin, and asked if I could spare any money. He was very upset and said he needed about $10 to get home to city because he had lost his return ticket. I felt badly for him and offered him the money. I think it reminded me of a story that my Dad told me once (actually 2 stories now that I think about it) where he had fallen asleep on a subway (we're talking grade-school aged - those were the good old days were safety wasn't a huge issue) and missed his stop. He didn't have any money to get off and get back on to go in the other direction so he had to ride it to the end of the line and then ride back. My Dad was so upset and he just really didn't know what to do. Now there was another story that Dad had told me (within the last few years I think) where a guy asked him for money to catch the subway home. Dad offered swipe his fare-card twice so that the guy could board the train. Wouldn't you know the guy didn't want the card swipe. He only wanted the money. Basically, this guy was giving Dad a line. It's sad when situations like that leave you thinking twice about offering to give someone money to help them out.

Now, I like to think that I did a good thing for this poor guy, but at the same time, he may have walked in a different direction from the ticket machine. Granted the train was pulling away at the time so he had to wait anyway. That said, I think the next time I'm asked for help with a fare, I'll just offer to purchase the ticket (even if it means paying an extra on-board fee). This way I know for sure money is going to the right place (sad to say).

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