As far as the people in bad spots and whether to help them or not, I just make arbitrary choices about it, mostly. I haven’t found it helpful trying to determine who will be a worthy recipient or not, I just make a choice completely at random and decide not to expect anything, good or bad, to come of it.

I let a crack whore into the lobby of my apartment building once as she was being menaced by her pimp and was yelling help, as soon as I let her in she began taunting the guy through the bars and then let herself out and back into his arms within a few minutes, long gone before the cops showed up.

It takes time and energy to help people. Who should you help? Someone who will just repeat their mistakes again, someone who is disrespectful and ungrateful? Or someone who will learn from their mistakes and be ready to hit the ground running with new plans and a new purpose given the opportunity?

The example I gave above doesn’t really fit these questions I know - its too immediate and temporary. I am thinking more along the lines of doing healing work for someone or helping them to find a job or a romantic partner or whatnot.

I only have a limited amount of energy and I want to put it where it does the most good. Sometimes that means not helping people I care about deeply because they refuse to face reality and so any improvement in their situation will be short lived.

Sometimes that means helping people I barely know because they are ready and willing to make any changes they need to make from their end too.

(41) Jesus said, “The person who possesses will be given more. And the person who does not have will be deprived of even the little that that person has.”

It seem sto me that some people are basically buoyant and make good use of assitance they recive so that it is not wasted energy, instead it multiplies and returns.

Other people are so damaged and deluded that any help you give them is just throwing good energy after bad.

I wonder if that’s what Jesus meant by the above, actually.

My sister was married to an alcoholic, from a family of alcoholics, who beat her and flung her children against the walls. He is still an alcoholic and is still violent. She on the other hand now owns her own business and owns (outright) her own home. My own parents beat us, to the point of not being able to be seen at school for fear of their own arrest.

As much as I would love to give these people a free pass for being abusive assholes, I cannot forgive a person who with full knowledge and conscience decides its ok to abuse others to make themselves feel better, and as for their scars, it does not legitimize the violence they feel the need to visit upon others.

When you’ve decided you’ve had enough of being a victim and making excuses for abusers, it does indeed make you another species. Alcoholism and abuse are very evocative of the things that I believe Archons would seek to preserve in humanity to continue their ignoble rule over mankind. So am I better than an alcoholic and child beater, you’re damned right, I am.

Um, it does, especially to a person raised in a similar family situation. Sorry, not really meaning to call you out - I actually understand what you mean, sort of - but “they” are definitely not a different species. They’re just people caught in bad situations. And if they’re lucky, they get out eventually, and become indistinguishable from your educated friends with decent jobs and good grammar. They just have buried scars, is all.

Heh, and I also go out for walks at night (well, on the weekends, as I work nights). So I can also say that people tend to ask for a smoke late at night, but I happen to smoke myself and can oblige ‘em.

OK, one thing to add. I’m another who enjoys taking walks at night. Your comment about cigarettes is so true. On the rare chance that I run into anyone else, and they’re not walking a dog, it’s almost certain that they’ll ask for something smoke related. Though I’m in Canada, so it’s a bit of an even mix betwean requests for cigs and rolling papers.