It's bigger than a pair of boots

There's a lot of buzz going around on the inter-webs about the New York City cop who purchased a pair of winter boots for a homeless man in Union Square some ten days ago. Coming from a family of cops and having worked with the poor and homeless for over a decade I have to say I was truly touched by this story.

Since then there have been some interesting discussions that have come up as a result that I thought I'd touch on one or two of them here on the blog.

It's been rumored  he'd (the homeless man ) had been seen around shoe-less in various places and might have been selling the boots for cash.

Let me ask you this?

Does what a homeless person does with your donation affect whether you give or how much you give?

[If you were sure that your money was going to food or shelter rather than something less necessary would you be more likely to give a homeless person money or do you give regardless?]

Give: transitive verb

1. to make a present of 
2. to grant or bestow by formal action 
3. to put into the possession of another for his or her use

I can admit freely here on my own blog that before my decades long work with the Daughters Of Charity I used to think the former rather then the later. Being around these wonderfully holy women changed me on the inside. They showed me by their example how to open my heart to the poor and how judging them wasn't my opinion of them but a reflection of me. 

As to the subject of the selling of the boots by the homeless man. Is this true? I don't know. Does this matter? I'll tell you what I think matters. What matters here is that we witnessed a true act of human kindness. Don't you wish we'd see more of this sort of thin in our communities and in our country as a whole?

It seems to me judging the recipient of this generosity is nothing more than a reflection of those who are doing the judging and it does nothing more than take our eyes away from what is much bigger than a pair of boots-  a very decent act.