it's common knowledge that you shouldn't buy flowers from street kids: people may think theyre being "generous" but they're actually perpetuating a sick situation

Another idiotic statement. Not all street kids selling flowers are being ripped off, or are ripping you off in some way. Many famililies sell flowers honestly and deserve to be supported by folks.

sure, maybe if there are parents around. i see this often in the rasta area off of ratwithi. it's still pretty terrible, and i'm sure they could find more healthy ways to raise funds for the family, but that's a complex issue.

however, six year old kids hanging out by themselves at girly bars selling flowers at 1 a.m. is not something anyone should support with cash. supposedly a good portion of those kids are orphans who are taken advantage of by mafia types. of course, they're the ones who end up "graduating" into far worse trades.

my point was that being "generous" with your cash isn't implicitly the most pragmatic or moral behavior in the long run. it's up to the individual to decide, but they shouldn't only think about the short-term effects of their spending habits. if you disagree with my "street kids" illustration there are a host of other ones that would suitably support my point.

I think you are hanging out making your own assumptions about the kids, with no facts to back up anything.

if you're saying i haven't done a detailed investigation, you're right. however, you're missing the point - six year old kids selling flowers in the middle of the night at girly bars without the supervision of an adult is not a good thing to encourage with your wallet. who needs assumptions?

but just for the record, there are plenty of hard facts out there to suggest there are bad things afoot in that realm. ajarn, you'd be better off doing research yourself before calling my comments "idiotic" or saying that you "think" i'm "hanging out" whilst "making assumptions." methinks you doth assumpt too much yourself.

here are some links:

http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/viewfa.php?id=538 (scroll to "Mean(s) to be Kind")

http://www.lbiworld.org/orphanages.cfm (scroll to "blossom kids home")

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/...l?from=storyrhs

http://www.hots-th.org/kids.php

also: http://www.vgcd.org/activities_eng.htm