I remember as a child asking my parents to give to the homeless and they’d say that if they gave to one, they’d have to give to all and then we’d have nothing and we’d all be homeless. Then they’d give our old torn-up clothes to charities and tell us they were going to “the poor children.” None of their but did you bring enough gum for everyone logic ever made sense to me, but it was so ingrained that it wasn’t until I was in college that I started giving to the homeless because I was scared that giving to one would make all of them come out of the woodworks telling me I had to share.

Btw, I once did bring enough gum for the entire class, not to fuck with the teacher, but to brighten everyone’s day. I figured the teacher would be like, “FINALLY!!! I’ve been so sad telling everyone no for all these years!” Instead, I got sent to the principal for being a smartass. It was never about not having enough resources to share, it was about making sure the have-nots were punished.