Hi Rapaire. I never thought that you didn't care - I thought that you were just being overly practical, i.e. thinking that the only thing that mattered was giving or not giving money or food. And I don't mean to say that busking is like begging, I only mentioned my own experiences to illustrate my point: that acknowledging somebody's presence is a small gift that won't do them harm and might do them good, so why not acknowledge them?

I remember once the director of a shelter/soup kitchen came to address our student group. When somebody asked him about responding to panhandlers, his two main points were: 1. Don't give money - it almost certainly would be feeding an addiction instead of a stomach, and 2. Look at the guy and say, "No, sorry", because it hurts to be ignored.

Of course, that's still one guy's opinion and not gospel, but I figured that he knew a lot more about the issue than I did, and I believed him.

Marion