I don't know what to do. When I'm feeling rich, I'll give whatever's in my pocket or whatever I'm carrying -- cookies, a take-out coffee that I haven't even started drinking. When I'm feeling overwrought, nothing. I live in a downtown neighbourhood and we have our regulars. I always think of them as "the people in my neighbourhood" along with the rest of us puppets:

Once I reached into my pocket and gave a fellow a dollar. He looked at it and started yelling at me, "What am I supposed to do with a dollar!!??" --

That was pretty upsetting. He wasn't one of the "regular" people in the neighbourhood.

A couple of months later, a quiet Sunday morning, and I see him panhandling in front of the store I'm heading into. He "spare-changes" me and I say, "The last time I gave you money, you started yelling at me."

He says, "I'm sorry. I must have been having a really bad day."

He probably was having a really bad day, and his coping methods for bad days may be limited.

I won't look someone in the eye and say words to the effect of "I recognize your humanity" as the author of the article suggests. But I will look someone in the eye and say, "Sorry, not today."

and I agree with cgod