Selling Flowers or Selling Short?

While stopped in traffic on the drive between meetings, this girl startled me when she rushed right up to the window (I wasn't looking out the window at the time and I work for a horror channel for goodness sake!) It always saddens me when I see children in this situation - a family in such a bad situation that they send their young out to sell meaningless items, eliciting sympathy money from tourists. This little girl should be in school. How far will the few dollars she manages to scrounge up throughout the day get her if she is not getting any education and selling her future short? But at the same time, how can she have a future if her family can't afford to give her one? I face a moral dilemma every time I see these children - give them money that could feed them that night? But at the same time encourage their parents use of them as a pawn?

This little girl was so cute, but so sad at the same time. I took out my camera and as I went to snap a photo of her, she instantly became shy. At first giving me a dirty look, then putting her hand over the window where my camera was, moving her hand to see if the camera was still there, actually cracking a smile at this peek-a-boo like game that had begun, then putting her arm against the glass and leaning her head against it, laughing and peeking below her arm, but finally running off disappointed when I did not buy anything (which I couldn't do anyway because I had no cash at all - the ATM yesterday's guard was protecting feeling protective itself).