Why I Gave Nothing to the Beggar at the Corner

I always feel guilty passing up the beggars on the street corners. Don’t you? My inclination is to jump out of my car, cause a traffic jam or crash, and run over and give the guy a wad of money. But I never do, and it is only partly because I do not want to cause a traffic snarl. It is partly because I wonder how many of them are actually homeless and poor. I saw one using a SmartPhone. I have not allowed myself the expense of getting one of these. But that is not an important reason either.

My major reason is that I am the steward of limited resources for a few years on Earth. As circumstances have turned out, I have two houses: one in the town where we raised my daughter and my wife works, the other in the town where I work, 160 miles away. That’s a lot of bi-weekly commuting. I drive a small car. I also take trips, largely at my own expense, to scientific meetings to share my research results and learn from other scientists. My wife works half time. Keeping up two houses on 1 ½ incomes is not easy. My daughter’s college education, to the repayment of which she is contributing, was also expensive (and well used). To pay down debts and mortgages, I deny myself many pleasures that most people consider ordinary. We hardly ever eat out. I am extremely frugal. When my air conditioning went out, I chose to swelter in 105 degree heat (91 inside my house) rather than to immediately get a new unit. My wife and I are the kind of people who are not helping the economic recovery very much: our idea of a good time is to stay home and read library books or watch library videos. While we are not suffering the way homeless people are, I can in good conscience say that I am living as frugally as my circumstances reasonably permit. You probably are too (if you are the kind of person who would even bother to read this essay). My lifestyle frugally (did I say that already?) supports my writing as well as my academic work, and to cut back would hamper my writing, on which I spend most of my spare time. I think I owe my talents to the world. I am not spending very much on my own pleasure. And I am trying to save up a little bit in case our rich rulers turn America into a nation of a few very rich and a massive underclass, of which I will be a part.

So, sorry, guy, my money is spoken for, after very careful consideration. Maybe later.