THIS group of beggars is notorious for its uncouth ways, spitting at those who do not give them money. We are left with no choice but to give them what's left in our pocket.

You can’t be safe anywhere. They have unpredictable approaches. A simple walk in the street could turn out to be a nightmare.

Sun.Star accepts donations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy

There have been complaints before, but they go on unhindered, preying mostly on students.

Going back to school for the second semester with my friend Lyrrah Tan, three of them swarmed around us.

"Give us money, if not we will spit on you," one of them said in Bisaya. I didn't know what to do. I attempted to run but they were too violent. Left with no other choice, I gave them some of my coins. My friend didn't give any. She used to be afraid but now she is immune.

We therefore can't blame the people if they look down on this particular group of beggars. They have become a real annoyance and they seem to bask in this notoriety.

We have a lot of foreigners in our country. Hopefully, they won't be able to get the negative impression just because of this. Being a third world country is not an excuse for having such a nasty and disgusting habit.

We don't understand why they are doing this. Is it their culture? Is that how they were taught to earn money? Maybe instead of hating them as I'm wont to, we can help them. But how?

We are the victims but we could also be of great help to them. Perhaps they can't afford to go to school, perhaps there are bigger issues involved. But we just have to do without the spits of greed.

We know what they are doing is wrong. Instead of being afraid to them, why not give them a room to grow? If they grew up with this kind of bad practice, it wouldn't be easy to immediately change them. It requires a step-by-step process. Letting go of spitting greed requires patience by the society that frowns on such unaccepted action.

Patience is a virtue. As we begin to help them, we also begin to learn from them. We may be able to understand better on why they are doing such horrendous acts. (Janelle Tee)

****

* Sunday Essays are articles written by Ateneo de Davao University college students for their basic journalism subject.