Hopefully Karma is Not a Bitch

Here is a classic ethical dilemma come to life.  It is Sunday afternoon.  There are about eight people on the subway car when a woman about 30 years old boards.  She excuses herself and asks for everyones' attention.  She then tells a story of how she fell asleep at the bus station and had all her money, credit cards, bus ticket, and insulin pens stolen.  She stayed outside all night with nothing to eat or drink, she was scared.  She says she called Travelers Aid and it would take three to seven business days to get her some help. What's more her dog is alone in her apartment and she has to be at work at 7 a.m. on Monday at a job she just started two weeks ago.  She says a bus ticket is 11.99 and asks if anyone would be willing to give her one dollar toward bus fare home.

At the next stop a few more people get on and she repeats her story.  This time she adds the detail that she is pregnant.  Maybe she should have led with that. 

If a panhandler on the street asks for money, it is easy to look away and ignore.  In a subway car with only a dozen or so other people it's a tad more difficult.

Probably just another panhandler, albeit with a more detailed story.  There are holes in the story; if she is an insulin dependent diabetic she would be in a coma if she hadn't had anything to eat or drink and such.  

So there is a 99% chance she's a hustler.  But what about the other 1%?  What if what she says happened did happen?  What if someone on the train who could give her $12 and not miss it? If she takes the money to buy drugs or booze, that's her choice.  The giver chooses to do a good thing.  The receiver chooses to do a bad thing.  The receiver's choice shouldn't dictate the giver's, should it?  Won't karma be favorable to the giver regardless?

OK, you can probably tell by the title of this post what choice I made.  But I thought about it for a long time and I feel bad.  I like to think I am a better person than I demonstrated and this is an open apology to that woman.  Next time I think I'll take a chance on the 1%.