Friends and Money

Yesterday the boys and I were leaving Ikea afer unsuccessfully looking for a big boy bed for B, when we passed through an East Palo Alto intersection. An elderly man sat on the cement piling in the middle of the street, just beneath the "No U Turn" sign. At a red light we stopped briefly a few cars back from the man, who was begging for money, or so it seemed from the can of money in his hands and his disheveled but hopeful appearance.

"What is that man doing?" W asked.
"Well," I said, "he's asking for people to give him money."
"Why?"
"He must not have enough for some reason. Maybe he can't work or has spent all his money."
"Why didn't you give him any then?" W asked.
"Good question," I said (since I'm always telling HIM to give toys to kids who don't have enough...wouldn't it make sense that Mommy gives grown ups a little help too?). "I guess I don't know. Maybe I should have. Next time we'll give him a dollar, okay?"

For those of you who know W, you know the questions would never end there.

"But," W said, "what if he isn't looking for money. What if he's just looking for a friend?"