Is the word STUPID stamped across my forehead?!

Today I was faced once again with the question I often ask myself, Am I really helping this person?


A couple of guys had found a landlord willing to rent to them but they needed help with utilities.
They were both working so I agreed to help.


A week later it was like pulling teeth to get the paperwork required for assistance. (Most people just want you to sign a check and move on. It isn't that easy with this particular grant.)


Finally today they called and said they had everything together. They didn't but that was beside the point.


The problem was that we showed up unexpectedly.


You want to know what REALLY goes on in homeless camps and houses, show up unannounced.


There was one big party going on outside.


They looked like teenagers whose parents had just come home early.


Pipes were discreetly dropped to their sides as wafting smoke magically disappeared. Heads ducked down and around as if they were doing neck stretches before looking up and "noticing" us for the first time.


I checked my mirror. I had to make sure STUPID wasn't stamped across my forehead.


We knew them all.


They came to the car, their loud voices and twitching limbs betraying them.


Two asked us to give someone a ride to pick up his check. He'd been in rehab but they let him work and he hadn't been able to get his check. He desperately needed us to bring him.


I fought the urge to check the mirror again.


For the record, most in-house treatment programs do not send you to work outside the facility. Some transitional programs do, but that wasn't where he'd claimed to have gone. Besides that, we had just learned two days ago that the rehab he'd "just left" shut down two months ago.


The term is Jonesing and after watching eight people with severe symptoms even I started feeling antsy.


Curious about the etymology of the word, I later looked it up. One source cites Jones Alley, a drug hangout in Manhattan as the origin, while another attributes it to Harry Jones, a slang term for heroin.


In any case, they were needing a fix bad.


They also were scheming to get around the program rules and I became concerned that the rent check and deposit would somehow be transferred into cash for drugs.


I normally don't like to play judge and jury regarding the allocation of funds.


But in this case, I had to wonder: Am I just supporting a drug habit?


Most times I turn in the paperwork with my opinion. This time, I am not sure I'll even do that.