Thinking of the homeless this Holiday Season

[Polishrifleman]

http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/221811.html

I love how they raise awareness for these kids.  Can't you just tell them IT'S COLD OUTSIDE and people are living through it?

Go inside to warm up and grab hot chocolate and pizza or just move your whole cardboard box inside.  That sounds like most of the homeless people I see around.

[Balog]

I saw the worst bum every the other day. Sitting on a newish backpack, good condition sneakers, clean clothes, shaved within a week, pulling a smoke out of a full pack, 20oz bottle of coke next to him, bag of chips behind. And a "Hungry anything helps" sign. Where's the :barf smiley?

[Jamisjockey]

I saw the worst bum every the other day. Sitting on a newish backpack, good condition sneakers, clean clothes, shaved within a week, pulling a smoke out of a full pack, 20oz bottle of coke next to him, bag of chips behind. And a "Hungry anything helps" sign. Where's the :barf smiley?

Maybe someone just helped him out, or he just left the shelter.
I despise panhandlers...but never judge a book by its cover unless its one of my employee's ex-boyfriends.... 

[Art Eatman]

From what I've seen, these last thirty years, most of those guys worked really, really hard to achieve their station in life.  Made lots of key decisions in that process.

For the majority of them, my sympathy is between Slim and None, and Slim left town.

[Brad Johnson]

We have a couple of guys that hang out around the "strip" (our local beer store mini-city).  One has a very physically disabled kid he routinely brings with him.  Sits him right on the corner, ratty wheelchair and all.  It's bad enough he'll spend 8 or 9 hours standing on a corner with a sign instead of 8 or 9 hours at a job, but to drag a disabled kid out and use him to play the sympathy card is repugnant.

There are three whole pages full of jobs in the classified ads and a whole host of local entities, public and private, dedicated to helping those (truly) in need.  Choosing to spend a workday panhandling vs. a workday actually working doesn't make me very sympathetic.

Brad

[Balog]

If you can stand on a corner begging all day you can get an effing job.

About the angriest I've been since EASing was when I made a delivery to a Bartell's in downtown Seattle. A kid my age (mid-twenties) was begging. No physical problems or anything. I was there like an hour just getting more and more upset. I join the Marines to serve my country, mess up my body, mess up my marriage, and I still hold a job down to support my family; this *expletive deleted*che can't even get a damn job? I honestly think I'd have beat his ass if he'd had the temerity to bother me as I was working.

But then a thought occurred to me and I calmed down. At least the people giving him money do it voluntarily. Hell, you could say it even provides a service, as the "donaters" can feel all special and holier than thou about how generous they are. But people on welfare use the .gov to force me to give them money through taxes. I can't say "Screw you buddy" and keep going with them.

[El Tejon]

How can they be shivering?  Al Gore told me that the planet was burning hot.

[Scout26]

About 20 years ago the do-gooders in my little suburb decided that "Something needed to done about the Homeless Situation."   Since we didn't have many/any, I hoped for "Run 'em out town on rail.", but figured it would be something along the lines "Collect some money and send it to those seedy missions/soup kitchens in Chicago."

Boy, was I off-base.  PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) and a bunch of churches decided to offer the homeless a place to spend the night.  e.g. a different church would set-up cots and let the homeless stay there for the night. 

Well, surprising everyone (except me), the "Homeless Problem" here in our little 'burb has only gotten worse.  (Kind of like how the "Bug Problem" gets worse when you turn on the porch light, but I digress.)  Heck, you can see them getting off the commuter trains here in town, inaddition to dragging all their worldly possessions down Roosevelt Rd and toward downtown.     

Now you can't let your kids go downtown to the stores or library by themsleves, because G-d only knows what mental or criminal problems are "hanging out" downtown during the day, while they wait for the designated church to open.  The do-gooders are constantly seeking volunteers and asking churches to open their doors.  I've talked to several people who, as members of different churches, both quit volunteering and their churches dropped out the program.   Why you ask ??  Because the "homeless" a) trashed the churches, b) we're completely ungrateful and acted as if they were paying for staying at the "Ritz" and expected "service" far beyond "Here's a cot and some blankets".  and c) Had no desire to change their lifestyle to become "Formerly Homeless".

IMNSHO, there are three types of "Homeless".

1.  Pyscho/addicts.  Deinstituationalization was cruel and unjust.
2.  Lifestyle.  Yes, some people prefer to prefer to panhandle and sleep outdoors rather then get a real job/join society.
3.  The Temporary.  Something bad happened (work/family/health issues) and they are without a place to stay. 

The third group I'll help, G_d knows that can happen to anyone.  But if I see you on the same street corner months or even years, you've made a lifestyle choice and you're not getting anything (sympathy included) from me.

 

[Art Eatman]

"If you want more of something, subsidize it."  LBJ started the War On Poverty, and after trillions of dollars we have more poverty-people now than back in the 1960s.  I think Poverty won.

One guy who begged near I-10 on the Thomasville Road at Tallahassee said in a TV interview that he worked the morning and evening rush hours.  It was "his" corner.  He averaged forty dollars an hour, four  hours a day, five days a week.  $800 a week ain't shabby.

The Austin newspaper had a story of a gal who begged at US 290 and I-35, with her baby in her arms.  She'd made a down payment on a house and a pickup, and was putting her husband through tech college.

And then there are the "Drag Worms" who beg in the UT area, or the "Sally" bums in downtown Austin.  Hey, Busch for breakfast, right?