Pertanyaan

Beggars have become a big problem for us today. They come as street musicians, street boys, "Sick people, "lost people, or just beggars. As their number is getting bigger, the municipal government feels the need to set regulation to ban beggars. Many people support this. They say that begging makes people lazy and bad survivors. They are like parasites. Criminals take advantage of their existence. Car drivers are strong-armed in crossroads, motorbikes are seized, trucks are hijacked, etc. A man in a rural area takes them to the city with his truck in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. They have made an agreement to share what they get. Some children are reported to have been kidnapped not for ransom. They are forced to be beggars. Some people, however, say that we must help beggars. They become beggars because they have no choice. What they get everyday is only enough for buying food. Being a beggar is better than being a thief or a robber. So it is a high time to apply their religious teaching to care for others. In addition, what they do is to help the government to check crime-rates. Despite the controversy of their existence, beggars continue to color the life of urban people. "Car drivers are strong-armed in Crossroads". (Paragraph 2). The underlined words is closest in meaning to ...