Inkwell: Psychological Stew posted an entry about giving money to panhandlers, and it reminded me of something I'd meant to talk about at some point. So I posted a comment:

I feel that when you give money away, even if the person you give it to doesn't deserve it, i.e., if they're panhandling as a career, for instance, it still passes on the good karma to the giver. I passed a young woman begging on my way home New Year's Eve; she was on the wrong side of the street, but I circled the block to give her a couple of dollars. She touched my heart, and whether or not it helped her, it helped me.

I do believe that when you give freely, in good conscience, it doesn't matter if the recipient is worthy or not. And I also believe that someone who needs to be out begging is worse off than me, even if he drives to his "job" in a new car, as some of the panhandlers in our city are said to do. I'd still rather be working inside, at a legitimate job, than sitting on the streetcorner pretending to be destitute. It's all relative.