Haha! This is a superb koan with a fantastic punchline! Wow though, I'm amazed at the audacity of the beggars you're talking about. Again, it's not something I've experienced here.
I do tend to try and give some change to people if they're asking for it, and I always get a lovely, grateful response.
I guess though, if you've got nothing to lose... pushing hard for more is just something you might do without a second thought.
There is one guy here who is a regular seller of The Big Issue (is that just a UK thing?), and he is always friendly and chatty. One time I saw him though, he could hardly walk and his face was black and blue. He was coughing in such a bad way. When I gave him some money, he asked for a little more. The reason being, he wanted to buy some hot soup - he couldn't eat any solids. He'd been beaten up pretty badly by some low-lifes who just laid into him for no other reason than he was an easy target.
Thanks! I'm glad you think of it that way :D This is one of the koans I wrote while being disillusioned of the promise of this series, so I'm glad it still translated well.
I'm not familiar with The Big Issue, so it might be a UK thing. That's too bad about him, but at least he didn't give you a hard time for it. Maybe your beggars are just friendlier than ours. Considering currency conversion, if they ever come here with what they have, they could easily pass off a low-income citizens.
Lol, yep I think you're right there! The Big Issue is a magazine specifically for the purpose of giving homeless people a way to earn a bit of money. They can sign up to sell the Big Issue - and then rather than sitting on the pavement, they can stand there and sell the magazine. I'm not 100% sure of the ins and outs of it, but it seems like a cool idea to me.
That's a great idea! Way to put them to work! I think it's awesome because it follows that "teach a man to fish" mantra. Who knows, once they get a taste of hard work, they would venture out on their own. If there are no initiatives like that here, I would try my best to get something up similar to that. All credits go to you of course :D