I remember when Robert Kiyosaki was leading the “Money and You” program in Australia more than 20 years ago and he explained that he does not give his money to poor people as it damages them.
Similarly in the preface of the book “When helping hurts – how to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor and yourself” by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert, Dr John Perkins writes “Have you ever done anything to hurt poor people? Most of you would probably answer no to this question, but the reality is that you may have done considerable harm to poor people in the very process of trying to help them. The federal government has made this mistake for decades. Well intentioned welfare programs penalised work, undermined families and created dependence. The government hurt the very people it was trying to help.”
I see so many people sleeping in the streets of Melbourne or begging for money.
I care about these people and as I talk with some of them I have discovered how much they care about me. I am grateful for the encouragement and useful advice that I have been given when I have needed some help and reached out to them.
I believe that we all need to learn to help these people without hurting them or ourselves as in most cases they need a hand up rather than a handout.