by Rachel Richmond
University Daily (Texas Tech U.)
U-Wire
My roommate Victoria told me this story about this incident at her place of employment. This little old lady left Vic's work and was approached in the parking lot by a toothless woman. The woman asked the little old lady for a lift and the little old lady agreed, thinking it would be a nice gesture.
As the little old lady slowed to a stop sign, the toothless woman grabbed the little old lady's purse and ran from the vehicle.
Instead of running the toothless woman over, the little old lady was shocked that her good-Samaritan gesture was twisted and left her empty-handed. The sad thing about this entire ordeal was the reactions of other people.
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The consensus was simply that the little old lady should've known better and not made a stupid mistake. But what should she have known better about? Is it now wrong to help someone else out?
Let's say you are driving down the road, minding your own business, when you pass a person stranded on the side of the highway with their car hood up and their engine smoking or someone with a flat tire. Do you stop to help them out? Most would like to say yes, but how many of us actually do slow to the shoulder? Not very many, I'm sure, because you never know what kind of person they could be. They could be a conartist or an axe murderer, or they could just be a normal, honest person who needs help. But who is going to stop to figure that out? If you did, would you be risking too much?
So should we continue to be a society that turns the other cheek to people in need? I would hope not, but there sure are a bunch of toothless hags out there. So what is a do-gooder to do? In my personal experience with a "toothless hag," this man asking for cash approached me. Supposedly his car ran out of gas while he was traveling through Lubbock and he was collecting cash to fill up his tank so he could reach his destination. So, gave him a couple of bucks. The same man approached me at least four more times on different occasions with the same sob story. What a free-riding, toothless hag. I'll give him an ounce of credit for not jacking my purse, but come on now.
I must say, now, whenever I'm asked by a stranger with a sob story for some money, I hardly ever give it up. That's too bad, because the next person in request might really need it.
So, should you continue to be a good Samaritan to the other people out there? If the answer is yes, be prepared to possibly be taken advantage of, but have no hard feelings if you are.
There are still a few good apples left and maybe the one you pick to help won't steal your wallet. Just be careful and trust your instincts.
