He was sitting beside the entrance with a grocery bag and a cup. I wondered if the grocery bag was a way of asking for food. It was one of the few times I actually had cash in my pocket, but I walked by, thinking it was maybe better to look for some appropriate food for him in the grocery store. Once inside, my mind got involved in deciding wether to buy brown sugar mini-wheats or regular mini-wheats. By the time I left the store, I had forgotten all about the man. When I saw him again, I was already walking by and my mind was too lazy to make a decision about whether I should give him something or not, so I went home.
I would generally do this. You can do much more by supporting shelters, addiction recovery services, mental health services than the like than by giving individuals money.
In some cases (depends on where you live), you might actually be doing more harm than good. In many major cities the begging is pretty organized, sometimes with clan leaders who then take a part of the donations they’ve collected. It’s much better to support services that can help people out of those situations, because that will go a lot further to give the people the life they deserve.