Steve I'm not bashing, reality hurts. I help support and run a warming center for the actual homeless. I'll say honestly though it is hard to help those that "don't" want to help themselves. It is estimated that more than 50 percent of claimed homeless panhandlers do well and are not homeless. Also many of the homeless are homeless because of choice, this unfortunately is fact...
If a person only knew who really needed help through no fault of their own, I doubt there are many of us who would turn their back on someone who really need help! Bob H.
Absolutely Bob,...if I was doin more than staying afloat myself I would certainly do better and do more for those in need,...it's something I really need to make more of a priority honestly,...but for me to see those people that I'm used to seeing claim their whatever and see the pop marks on their face and needle tracks on their arms,...they will get nothing from me. I understand what my faith teaches but it also teaches to provide for yours also,..so throwing away my sympathy on someone who is feeding off others sympathy just isn't gonna happen. Just my opinion
Because the sympathy and “soft-handed” approach has worked so well in cities like San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. Geez, time for some folks to get their heads out of the sand and recognize free handouts and lack of shame do not work.
I’m not mean or heartless, but when I see an able bodied man with musical talent, a car, a family and the ability to work a schedule (they’re there regularly and appear clean and sober) standing in a grocery store parking lot begging for money, I nod and walk past. The hours they’re ‘working’ outside mean he (or she) has the time and ability to go inside that store, or any of numerous businesses hiring on the spot, and work instead. He chooses not to. Patrick
This reminds me of something I heard on a local radio station back in the 90's. The host was talking about all the people in the town holding "I will work for food" signs on various street corners. A lady called in and said that her & her husband had bought a new house and were moving themselves. As they were driving the rental truck to their house, they saw a man on the street corner holding a "I will work for food" sign. Figuring they could use some help with the heavier items, they stopped and offered him $10 an hour (good money back in the 90's) to help them move. The lady said that he told her "No thanks, I make $20 an hour standing on this corner holding this sign".
Homelessness is a complex issue, and as was stated, I don't think any of us would not help someone who got that way thru no fault of their own, and who is really trying to make things better for themselves, and their family. We must understand and agree that as humans, we are by nature lazy, and looking for the easiest way to get by in life. The path of least resistance if you will.. Those of us who work hard, have made a choice, or a series of choices starting a long time ago, to take advantage of all the opportunities this country has to offer, regardless of your race, gender or religious belief. Unfortunately, there is an entire subset of this country that believes that they are entitled to a living, and to many other things that the rest of us have to purchase with the money we make from working. Statistics show that a good majority of these individuals grew up in households who received some public assistance. Instead of a temporary "hand up" it has devolved into a permanent "hand out", which is sad, because all these programs were well intentioned to begin with. I would argue that being "sympathetic" to these people, while it may satisfy some selfish need to be "giving", actually is doing no favor to those individuals, and families, as you continue to enable a lifestyle fraught with drug abuse, alcoholism, domestic abuse.. you name it.. It is my belief that the cruelest thing you can do for a homeless person, standing in an intersection, is give them that $5 bill. If you really want to make a difference, stop what your doing, and engage them in a conversation.. to determine how you can really help them. As you have seen time and time again from testimonies in this thread, you most often will be rebuffed, they simply want your money. They don't want help. Charity that makes a difference in this world is wisely targeted and smart, there are literally thousands of soup kitchens and homeless shelters offering a hot meal and a place to stay for a night or two, along with education and drug abuse programs, all for free. To not only feed and house the homeless, but help them find a way out. You will find that those who really want help, avail themselves of these programs, beat the demon that often got them there in the first place, and end up living happy normal lives, often giving back to others that are trapped in an unfortunate circumstance. These are the charities I have supported in the past, and continue to support to this day. JW
Exactly Jim,..it's enabling their behavior,....if the obese 10yrold rolls on the floor screaming for another little Debbie cake do you give it to him and reward his behavior or jerk him up by his hair and smack the piss out of him,.......pretty sure yall know what I would do,...haha
Not bashing the homeless. Bashing street beggars who likely could be working. I realize (as has been mentioned) that many homeless have mental issues, PTSD, alcoholism or drug use, but if the beggar is well enough to walk to an intersection and hold a sign all day, he/she is well enough to work. Here in sunny SW Florida, there are probably three jobs for every applicant. CVS is hiring at $17 per hour; the Florida minimum wage is $10. In another thread I mentioned that Waste Management in Collier County, and Waste Pro in Lee county are hiring truck drivers for a bit north of $34,000 per year and will pay for the applicants' CDL. I saw a liquor store in Naples that actually had a guy standing out front passing out job application handbills to people walking by. I'm far from heartless, I just can't stand people who could be working, panhandling off those of us who earn a legitimate living.
Wife and I were in Austin Sunday and I noticed one with a sign “will take verbal abuse for spare change”. Couldn’t get over because of traffic, wanted to give him a buck and tell him to kiss my ass. Wife failed to see the humor.
As a young adult 50+ years ago I can count on my fingers the number of pan handles/beggars that I saw. Something has changed.
Years ago I was visiting in San Francisco. One morning about 9:00 I went for a walk to go buy a Tradin' Times newspaper (remember those) to check out the car market. A homeless woman asked me for a quarter "to buy some beer" I laughed to myself and gave her a dollar since I had no change. She actually gave me change back for my dollar and thanked me. I have no problem helping people out, but I never hand out money at street corners. In todays strong employment market at 15 bucks an hour, there is no need for an abled person to beg. Illness is a different issue, but how can you tell without judgement.
I'm not going to sit here and tell everyone what a great human being I am or what great things I do to help others, I'm not into that. I will say that there are people who genuinely need help and as previously stated, many on here do help and would help if they know the person is in need. We are a good bunch of people, after all. What I will do is post pics of the homeless camp I have next to my work that I took this morning and tell you a couple stories. First of all, there's about 120 customer cars parked in our back lot waiting to get worked on at any time (GM dealership, it's normal). Now, oddly, we never had any issues with things getting stolen, vandalized, or going missing until about 2 years ago when the first homeless "campers" "moved in". The fence and few cameras we had seemed to do the trick... Then one day, we noticed a couple of customer's cars got the wheels and tires stolen off of them. Then a couple weeks later some stereos got stolen out of a couple and some more wheels. New vehicles got vandalized. We put up more cameras. Strangely the people that cut the fence and came into the back lot seemed to come from the area of the "campers". Called the cops, they don't find any stolen goods there, but turns out the shitbox cars that keep parking on the street for 5 or 10 minutes while someone enters the camper then take off were, in actuality, buying meth from these people. This was also being done while the meth dealers took "shifts" standing on the street corner panhandling. "Business" went quiet for a couple of weeks, but the "camp" didn't move, didn't get towed, didn't change. Then all the sudden, it's business as usual again, only with more "campers"..... So more cars start showing up and parking in the camp, and oddly they start missing parts: doors, wheels, sometimes engines and hoods, almost like they're getting stripped down and sold for parts. Then they just sit there. And trash piles up. And there's needles and bottles and literally **** on the sidewalk. On the sidewalk right next to my freakin' work. Guys and gals getting drunk and having fights, doing heroin in the middle of the day, until their "shift" to go to the corner.... Then some nicer stuff shows up. One guy gets a pretty decent square body 4x4. A really nice, vintage Kawasaki ZX-7RR shows up in the camp and takes up residence, along with a Honda Magna V65... So, for a while, the "homeless" square body goes away. Don't see it for weeks. Meanwhile, one of my younger techs has built up his really nice square body he's had since high school. He's got it at work, and the starter goes out. He doesn't get to it for a couple of weeks, because, well, he's young and that's what they seem to do...Then one day we come to work and the worker's square body isn't parked anymore. It's gone. Vapor. We check the cameras, and sure enough, some yahoos pulled up in an RX-7, mess with it for about 30 minutes trying to get it started, then they give up and push it down the block to the homeless camp just down the street, off camera. Last time it was seen, it was being towed by a Mazda RX-7 that frequents the homeless camp. Then about a month later, that homeless guy's square body shows back up with a lift kit on it and sporting some really nice, chrome 20" wheels and 35s that look an awful lot like a set that got stolen out of the back lot a few months previous....strange.....so yeah, I got no sympathy for these dirtbag, P.O.S., air wasting, drug dealing, meth taking, wife beating, thieving mofos. I'm fresh all out. Pics of the "camp" this morning complete with cars getting stripped out, and pics of my 20 year old tech's stolen truck and it getting "transferred" to the "less fortunate" that I should be compassionate towards.
It would help them, wouldn't it? Come on, Steve, show some compassion to make up for what the rest of us are dearly lacking.
