My mom is 65 years old, physically disabled, and lives with fibromyalgia, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and several other health issues. She's also a pastor and genuinely one of those cute little old ladies who has such a big heart that sometimes you have to protect her from her own kindness. She travels over an hour to sell at flea markets trying to make extra money despite the amount of pain she is constantly in. Just yesterday she went to another flea market and didn't even make $40. Today, completely by coincidence, I happened to be DoorDashing in the area. I normally don't even DoorDash around there. I had been active for almost an hour without receiving a single order when my first order finally came through for the Safeway across the street. While I was inside, I noticed my stepdad, Peter, with a homeless man and was confused about what was happening. My mom had decided to help this man and buy him some things, which I had absolutely no problem with. What concerned me was when Peter asked for my mom's card information in front of this complete stranger. I went over to my mom because I was genuinely worried about her safety and tried explaining that she needed to be careful. My mom is incredibly kindhearted, but she is also extremely stubborn and wasn't really taking my warning seriously. She had already told this complete stranger how much money she had in her savings and was prepared to give him her card so he could withdraw money from it. Eventually Peter went with the man instead. They weren't able to withdraw the money, and afterward I personally watched this same man walk up to other people and ask them for money as well. Everyone else I saw was telling him no. So yes, I strongly scolded my mother. I did not stand there screaming or yelling at her. I was a daughter scared that her 65-year-old disabled mother was putting herself in an extremely vulnerable situation with a complete stranger. I was trying to explain to her that having empathy and wanting to help someone does not mean giving a stranger access to your card, discussing your savings with them, or putting your own financial safety at risk. My mother works incredibly hard for the little money she makes. Sometimes loving someone means telling them, "Please stop. You have to protect yourself too." What absolutely breaks my heart is that after all of this, the owners decided that my mother was the person who deserved to be punished. They banned her from selling at this flea market because of what happened between her and me. She called me afterward crying. I cannot explain how heartbreaking it is hearing your 65-year-old disabled mother cry because she has just been told she is no longer welcome somewhere she traveled over an hour to get to just to try to make a little extra money. This is a woman who pushes through fibromyalgia, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic pain to pack her things, travel that distance, set everything up, sit there for hours, and hope she sells enough to make the trip worthwhile. Just yesterday she did all of that at another flea market and didn't even make $40. And despite how little she herself is making, she saw someone she believed needed help today and her first instinct was still to give. That is the kind of person they banned. Think about that for a second. My mother's mistake today was being too trusting and too generous with a complete stranger. Her daughter happened to show up, realized how vulnerable of a position she was putting herself in, and firmly intervened because I love my mother and wanted her safe. And instead of anyone showing this elderly disabled woman even a fraction of the compassion she had just shown someone else, she was sent home crying and told she could not come back. If anyone overheard me speaking firmly to my mother, I genuinely wish they had stopped for a moment and listened to what I was actually saying and why I was saying it. I wasn't attacking my mother. I was worried about her. I'm pretty sure most people hearing the actual situation would understand why a daughter would intervene after realizing her elderly mother had told a stranger how much money she had and was considering giving him her card. I would rather have my mom annoyed with me for scolding her than stay quiet because I'm worried about what strangers might think and later find out something happened to her. What I cannot understand is why my mother was punished in the first place. This had nothing to do with the flea market. I was speaking to my own mother because I was worried about her safety. She did not deserve to lose a place she worked hard to sell at because her daughter was concerned about her. There was no reason to ban her. None. She is a 65-year-old disabled woman who showed up to make a little money, tried to help someone she thought was struggling, and ended the day crying because she was told she could not come back. That should make people angry. She was not causing trouble. She was not read more