Show compassion

To the editor:

We too, like Paul Veerkamp (Public Forum, Nov. 13) walk up and down Mass. Street, on average five times a week. Like him, we have never seen any behavior from mendicants that could be interpreted as aggressive or even unfriendly. Like Megan King (Public Forum, Nov. 12) we have passed the Salvation Army, at least 10 times a week for the last 16 years, and the only untoward thing we have ever observed is a family of four or five – mother, father and children – seeking food and shelter for the night (who, when greeted, say everything is fine).

In this discussion we must not confuse effect with cause, symptom with disease. The outrage is not that there are people on the street but that social and economic policies of the last few decades have driven us into a ditch. Given one pink slip, one illness, a large number of us being asked for change now will be out asking, and it will console us little that it is against the law too for Girl Scouts to solicit and for bankers to sleep under the bridge.

We carry a dollar for anybody who asks (who are we to distinguish between the deserving and the undeserving poor? We assume they will not spend it foolishly by, for instance, investing in derivatives, but more than likely have a good time with friends and family). We give about $70 a year. The portion of the donation that goes to the client is 100 percent.

Philip Kimball,

Jennifer Brown,

Lawrence