Charity Begins at Starbucks

A panhandler made his way down the line of cars at the drive-thru the other morning. We idled behind a minivan with Georgia plates. The panhandler stopped at the minivan's window. The woman behind the wheel shook her head apologetically. The panhandler approached our window, and we, too, shrugged and murmured something about having no spare change.

At about this moment, the minivan woman rolled down her window and called the man back--she had apparently located some spare change. He went to her window, accepted the coins graciously, and began to walk away. After he had gotten to the sidewalk, the woman honked her horn. She had found even more change and wanted to give it away. The man came back and took the extra money.

While we respect the woman's desire to go the extra mile--to search her purse or cup holders for something to give this indigent stranger even after he had walked away--we think that calling him back smacks of excessive piety. Maybe she was simply honoring the traditions of Southern hospitality or Christian charity, but, to us, her actions reflected less of a desire to reach out than to rub in.

Nation?