what do you do to help? or not?

when i saw this photo, it touched me, i am not sure exactly why, but it did. You look at this man, and you wonder, what got him to this point? was it choices he made that led to this? or has he been this way his whole life? we can also look at this, and his sign and take it in a literal way, or we can take it as a metaphor for how we all feel at one point in our lives or another. we put up all the signs that we will take whatever help is given us. do we recieve what we need? rarely. so there is another point of view. we have those people that we KNOW need help, need a friend, someone to show a sliver of caring, and yet we would rather judge, walk away and claim its not your job to help. I do the same thing, even in a literal sense, when i walk past homeless people on the streets i feel so much empathy for them, so much sadness that i have taken for granted everything that i have, so i ignore them, even if i am spoken to. well, that changes today. it may not be much, but i never keep change with me, i hate it. but from now on i will collect all the change that i just accumilate, and when i see someone on the street, i will give it to them. it is probably not much, but at least its the thought, the willingness to out of my way to attempt to help, that makes all the difference. As much as money, these people need to know that people do care, that they are not all for nothing. you may say, "if you give the homeless money, you are just enabling them, because obviously, they got their because how they spend their money, AKA drugs. he could get a job" well even if that is the case, its not your place to take away the opportunity to let them make their own decisions. When you see someone in the halls, walking with their head down, do you think, "wow i should go talk to them" or do you instantly justify why you are too lazy to risk the awkwardnes with, "well its not like they try to talk to people, its thier fault, they are just sad all the time, theres nothing i can do". its wrong, and even i am guilty of this. but that doesnt mean we cant change. make an effort, it may not be easy or even in your comfort zone, but the good things in life we dont achieve because they are easy, we achieve them because we work hard for them. it may not change the world, or make a huge difference in any body elses life, but it will make a difference in yours, in what kind of person you are.