I've developed a new soft spot. I can't help but notice the people at the margins, the invisible ones who used to be the extras in my movie. I know the feeling: You in me, me in you. It makes me a softer touch. The money I give out starts to mount up, twenty, thirty, forty bucks a month, unburdening my wallet, filling the heart's purse; but somehow, it's better than okay.

— Marc Ian Barasch, Field Notes on the Compassionate Life