Who is "Good Guys"?

Several years back, someone called the intercom to my place and asked for access claiming that he was a police officer trying to catch someone who jumped onto our building's roof. I buzzed him in, but couldn't stop thinking "what if he was not a police officer?" How do you know if a police officer is for real? I made it a point to ask this question to a couple of police officers. According to one, you ask them for their business card! OK, not very convincing to me, but if they say so then there must be something to it that I am not seeing. Or not?

Someone stood there at the freeway exit with a sign that read something along the lines of "all I want is a cheeseburger" or something like that. Of course, I was happy to buy him a cheeseburger and drop it off. Of course I talked about him in the next social gathering. Apparently he has been sitting out there with the same sign for months, maybe even longer...and continued to. How do you know if a beggar on the street is really in need of money or that sandwich?

I tried to work with an orphanage to bring stories to young children (the equivalent of Golden Books in the States). The plan was to have these children read them, record them on disc, and give them as a gift to blind children, and so on until a network was built among children growing up in difficult circumstances. after a big wave of enthusiasm that led to buying the whole series, the lady in charge said "oh, but we have to read them first before giving them to the children, just in case they contain material that they shouldn't be exposed to". Of course, the children never saw these books. Plan down the drain.

At some point, I also tried sponsoring a child in a third world country. I was very excited about the idea. It turns out that there are no kids, and that this organization is raising money to supply weapons to extremists. How terrible did this make me feel?

Now, I am thinking of joining the Team In Training, which is a group that would basically train you for a marathon or triathlon or bike race...etc, in exchange for raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The majority of me wants to believe that if I go ahead with this I would actually be benefiting someone. But ALL of me is almost certain that that's not the case, based on my experiences above. Yet, if it benefits someone, then it is worth it.

But how do you know if your efforts to help people are really helping those people? I don't. I suppose that it really has to do with my intention. My intention is always to help and this is where it should stop. My experience has taught me to not look back for results. It is almost always disappointing.