The World Beyond BetterMost > Anything Goes
The Richest Country in the World?
injest:
Today I was driving around the Loop in town.
There was a man standing on an onramp with a sign..."Hungry, please help"
He is out there everyday, rain or shine, 90 degree heat. But I think he is scamming people. He could find work (probably) if he wanted to...
then a couple of miles on around is another man, in his twenties?? maybe thirties...hard to tell. He sits everyday beside the road on a old trunk, with a couple of grocery sacks filled with assorted flotsam...waiting. He doesn't beg, doesn't look up. I wonder what he is waiting for. I hate that he is out there. There should be a place for him somewhere.
It breaks my heart to know he is sitting out there night and day, looking so sad, waiting for something or someone that will never come. Like an abandoned dog....
the local fast food restaurants feed him. just like a stray dog....
:( :( :(
Lynne:
It's a damned shame and a GDBOUS, if you ask me, Jess.
I know the problems are complex and there's no single simple answer, but to my mind it's shameful and embarassing that every single person in this country does not have basic food, shelter, and health care. Much of the problem is rooted in how we handle people with mental illnesses. It's inexcusable.
It's one of the reasons I feel so alienated from the vocal religious right - they're quick to lament the sins of the flesh or whatever, but don't seem to rememember the parts about healing the sick and feeding the poor. As a college student I stopped going to my United Methodist Church in Winchester, TN because they paid over $1 Million for maybe a .25 acre parking lot. Never mind this church is located off the square and there's abundant free parking.
Not my scene.
Lynne:
--- Quote from: injest on June 19, 2007, 12:38:16 am ---*Jess getting off her soapbox and going to bed*
--- End quote ---
It just raises our blood pressures and doesn't help anyone. One person at a time, we can make a difference, and that has to be enough for us, I think.
delalluvia:
The man may be mentally ill, that's why he's just sitting there not actively panhandling.
It's sad. You can't tell the fakers from the truly needy. A co-worker gave a woman and her children some money as they stood near a bus-stop so they could have money to get home.
The next week, the woman was sitting next to my co-worker friend at the manicurist shop. ::)
An ex-boyfriend gave $20 to a guy begging for money. HIs wife and their broken down car was sitting right there and they needed to gather enough money to make repairs so he could make his new job in Little town, USA.
Two weeks later, my ex-boyfriend ran across the same guy begging money and telling the same story at a gas station.
My ex only gave him $10 this time. When I asked why, he replied that he thought the guy was a good actor and he should reward performance artists. :P
A woman approached me at a drive through ATM. Very dangerous thing to do, begging money for her and her infant to take a taxi across town because it was so hot (Texas has brutally hot summers). I could see the bundle in her arms, but no face. I had a feeling it wasn't an infant, just a bunch of rags or a doll at best. I didn't give her anything.
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: delalluvia on June 19, 2007, 08:21:04 pm ---
My ex only gave him $10 this time. When I asked why, he replied that he thought the guy was a good actor and he should reward performance artists. :P
--- End quote ---
I like your ex's sense of humor. Many of the people you see panhandling are getting cash for their fix, not their meals or shelter. The truly needy have shelter to go to especially when the temperature rises above 90 degrees here in Texas. That said, I believe we should have compassion and try to help- but we need to realize that for many of the perennially homeless their homelessness is a product of alcohol and drug addiction.
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