So I gave a homeless girl $20 today...

Here I am, in San Francisco. It is the Gay Mecca, busting out with Chinese culture and fashionable. It is also heavy with homeless. You can't walk more than 10 feet without literally bumping into a homeless person. Granted, being homeless in California isn't like being homeless in Chicago...but the sheer amount is staggering.

So, it "begs" the question - are those who give to the homeless "schmucks?"

No - I say if you give money to another human being, good on you. Sure, they may buy booze and they may buy drugs, but so might a non-homeless person. Plus you don't know the circumstances that made them homeless, so who are you to judge? So yes, I gave a homeless girl $20.

She was different.

She was sitting on the sidewalk outside the posh stores down Powell St. She was bent over reading a thick novel. Next to her was a little wire-haired Benji dog. She had 3 backpacks and a suitcase behind her. She also had a sign that read "HUNGRY, HOMELESS AND PREGNANT. Any little bit helps me and my family." I could see her bulging pre-belly, and thought, heck, who am I to judge. Yes, I too need money, but at least I have a home, a job and that job put me in San Fran where I had the fortune of walking past this girl.

I handed her the money and she looked shocked and grateful. She had MANY tatoos on her face, arms ad body, rotting teeth and wore thick glasses. She almost looked like she was going to cry. I told her that I just had a baby, and I can't imagine life without a place to call home for him. She asked his name and I said, "Elijah." I learned that she too had a son named Elijah who was a year old. She doesn't take him out with her when she begs for money. I didn't get tell her that Eli is almost totally deaf, but she told me that HER Elijah has hearing problems...

...talk about COINCIDENCE...

So I bid her good luck, God bless, and started to walk away. She called after me, "Congrats and thank you!"

So who knows, maybe she'll by drugs and maybe she'll get booze...or just maybe she'll get her little Elijah a happy meal and eat something to help her new baby to grow. It was my place to help, not judge. So God, please help that girl and her little family. Life is hard for everyone - and I need to just think of her to realize that it could be so much worse.