Thought provoking and insightful.  Its hard to say much..

@3e4b426071dd13469c13792fc014dc84:disqus - even if you decide that the most skillful thing for you to do is not to give him money, the feeling of compassion in your heart will serve both of you in some way. perhaps because of that feeling of compassion, you might engage more with him and determine whether he really needs the help.
in a sense, compassion also has to have a built in wisdom to it. in other words, we have to use skillful means to express our compassion. in taking any action, can we ever know for a fact that we are truly serving someone? hard to say. but we have to go with what we think will serve them best. i remember this quote i came across: "just as you're the primary architect of your own happiness and suffering, other people are the primary architects of theirs. If you really want them to be happy, you don't just treat them nicely. You also want them to learn how to create the causes for happiness." - thanissaro bhikkhu