I agree that contempt for poor people is a cancer in our country. But.

Long ago, I was a homeless teenage runaway, and I panhandled. I don’t recall what I spent the money on — probably food and cigarettes. If I have cash on me and a stranger asks for it, I give. Some of my relatives have been homeless, or on the brink of homelessness, and sometimes I’ve paid the rent for them, or put down a utility deposit, etc.

But I’ve lost family members to overdoses, and I worry that if I give the addicts in my family money, it could be that $50, or whatever, that kills them.

One of my cousins right now is pretty pissed off at me because I wouldn’t give him $$ he asked for several years ago. I’m okay with giving money to strangers, but I don’t want to give someone I love the money that ends up killing them. Money and addiction are a fatal combination. Maybe I should worry about that when I give to panhandlers I don’t know.