I’m going to India in a couple of weeks, and I’m troubled by the children who beg for money. If I give them money, exploitative adults may take it. What should I do? —D.S., Minnesota

It can be argued that giving money to beggars motivates criminals to force children to beg. But it is poverty itself, not generosity, that perpetuates begging. The real solution is to lift these children–these nations–out of poverty by contributing to organizations with the expertise to take on this challenge.

—Adapted from ‘The Ethicist’ in The New York Times Magazine