reminds me of a story i heard a while back...
this student/tourist was in guatamala and kept seeing this guy walking around with no feet in the city... she thought it was horrible and asked a few people about it. they just said he has always been walking around with no shoes and no one worried about it.
the student saw him the next day and gave him some shoes she had purchased just for him. the guy was thankful, but aprehensive... he put them on and went on his way. the student had done her good deed and continued to see him every day for the next 2 semesters walking through town...
eventually the man never seemed to be around... the student asked around to find out what happened.
one person at a local shop had news for her. the man had been brought to hospital after suffering a serious infection.
it would seem that the man wore through the shoes and went back to barefoot... but his feet were no longer as calloused and he tore through his softened soles. eventually the sores became infected and due to living out in the streets, he just stayed there until someone found him extremely sick.
never heard if he lived or what...
i feel so bad relaying that story! but this one reminded me of it... to tell the truth, i've forgotten a lot of the details of the story, so filled in any gaps with assumptions. She thought she was doing something so nice but ended up feeling horrible after!
don't let it make you think twice about charity though... go out and give!
man i'm a downer.