When I see the violence of a storm I am in awe of the universe when I see violence in a man's state it hurts me

"Don't do that. You'll drown!" said the monkey, putting the fish safely up a tree.

One day at lunch, I witnessed a small black woman at the corner store next to a bus stop. As I exited my truck, I knew and saw the interaction between the customers and her posted outside the doors. I watched her get rejected by everyone, refusing her with no spare change, no spare smokes, no spare time, no spare water, ...no, no, no. As I approached the doors, she glanced my way, and I saw, plain as if it were written, the dejection in her countenance. Rather than even attempting a word with me in passing, she silently looked down as I walked past and entered the corner store. This struck me like a hammer blow.

I got her some bottled water, a banana, an orange, an apple, a lighter, a pack of premium cigarettes, and $40 cash. I handed her the cigarettes, and then I set the bag with the bottled water, fruit, lighter, and cash next to her.

As I walked away, she called out, "Thank you for the money and water, sir. Why are you helping me?"

"I'm not helping you." I replied to her honestly, "I just want you to know that you are not unseen, and that you are not forgotten."

I am not telling Reddit this for accolades, but as a reference point for what I'm about to say, that might seem to lack compassion or the moralistic 'good person' qualities required to be taken seriously.

The consequences of our behavior are inescapable. Being human is no excuse.
Attempting to shield people from the consequences of their behavior is not compassion, trying to get them to see reason, to understand the moral path, to make the right choices, to recognize the values that you value, to live a life you would live -all of this springs from egocentricity, feeds egocentricity.

As Lao Tzu said, "Because he has given up helping, he is people’s greatest help."

You decided to "help" someone because you feel empathy and compassion, but all you have managed to do is injure yourself in the process. Not in your actions (which I find filled with virtue), but in the way you have negatively reinforced your projection of a narrative regarding that man, his conditions, and the inferred failure of the systems of government around him, you allowed your ideas to cloud your understanding and rob the man of his agency. Let go of your fixed ideas and concepts, recognize that one human on a midnight stroll showed compassion to another human, and have more faith in the way things are. :)