At that time an ice cream scoop of plain rice could keep a person alive for another day. In India at that time (not sure now) but at that time there were thousands and thousands of beggars saying "Baksheesh" which means something like "Please help me and share food or money with me so I can survive one more day!"
At that time there was no welfare or social security or anything like that so at times I saw thousands of lepers gathered for example on the way to a sacred cave with a Tibetan Lama I and my family were traveling with near Bodhgaya India where the Buddha became enlightened 2500 years ago which is 500 years before Christ. So, at that time I learned to try to give something even if it was a few pennies or nickle or dime or quarter to every beggar I saw when it was practical. When I saw thousands and thousands of lepers I didn't think this was practical because of many different problems. However, the Tibetan Geshe Lama that we were traveling with bought from a vendor there a thousand small candies and proceeded to give each beggar a single candy. I often think about what that would do to someone starving and what kind of alternate consciousness experience would that be if you hadn't eaten anything for several days time.
But, I learned in India at that time to try to give something to each beggar in India and Nepal when I was there if I could and if it was safe to do this at the time even if it was only a quarter, a dime or a nickel. Because just giving something to them acknowledged that they were valuable enough to give money to to survive for one more day here on earth.
So, I continued this habit of giving "when I felt it was safe to do this" a dollar or more to each beggar I have seen along the way even here in the U.S.
By God's Grace
Note: Being safe while you do this is very very important. IT becomes Idiot compassion that sometimes gets people killed or maimed otherwise.
A beggar has to be safe enough to help in the end for it to be practical.
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