What has this world come to?

[owly]

Sunday, we went to the zoo in Houston. very close to the zoo, we saw a littlle woman, alongside the road with a ragged sign, written in marker.
'homeless and hungry please help if you can'
It was unussaly cold that day, for this time of year, mid 50s, and fairly windy, so It was chilly. i would guess she was 50, thou she had that much older look, trhat life can give you. her baggy old clothes diddn't hide she was very thin.
I'm not a pity person. i been homeless, nobody helped me. but I , well i felt she really did need some help. so we got her a bag of chips, a bear claw, and some hot chocolate, and a few dollars. I let Hatama approach her, they talked for a minute or two, while drivers slowed down to stare, then they hugged. my Hatama came back in tears.
she said she had been laid off her job last year. she had no children, and her husband was long gone.
she was more thrilled about the hot chocolate then anything else, and said she could use the money to get both dinner, and breakfast tommorrow, which tells me she's had to learn to survive this way.
but what got my Hatama, was Homeless lady said, thank you for all youv'e done, but can you do one more thing for me ? pray for me. It was then that i wished i gave her more than a ten spot, i was soaked in dry tears. And i hope god looks after one of his lost children......

Welcome to the land of opportunity

[owly]

i just wanted to add that it takes a lot for hatama to cry, she didn't even cry during the movie 'Marley and Me' that had me crying like a 8 year old school girl lol.....

[Venus]

see there are some genuinely homeless people out there like her
then there are the ones who make a living doing it.
so people are more wary of them

some dress in old clothes, beg for money then drive off in beamers /shrugs

i personally know a woman who got run over by a repo truck, the driver drove off, and she was at her sons house trying to stop the guy from repo ing her sons truck<it was a mistake, the guys went to jail, he had paid for it, they were basically robbing him>

her son then dressed up the next day with his wife and kids in a military uniform that he bought at a second hand store., made a sign with her and his picture on it<it was big news here, so everyone knew about it/them> and wrote on the sign that they all needed money to buy grocerys

he then took the cash he got and bought drugs.

the cash he got from using her accident, then standing on the side of the road with his wife and two year old son
and bought drugs with it

when his mother really could have used the cash for grocerys

so i guess alot of us have become immune to it simply because we think most are lying.

its sad for the ones who truly need the money for food and shelter/clothes.

i dont give them money, but i have bought them fast food and brought it back before

half hte time i get thanked, half the time i get bitched at because theyd prefer cash.

[Nagash]

Quite right, V. I usually ignore beggars, as most of them are put there by organised crime, fake and for profit. The situation you refer to sounds like your average junkie, but it still is an example of exploiting the needy, or at least those who look needy.

Owly, Hatama - goob job on helping one of those really in need. Cheers.

[Atla]

I just ignore them... or hit them with my Jeep.

My best is 5 yards so far, you know how much skill it takes to bounce a person off your hood 25 feet? I was doing about 60, had to swerve onto the sidewalk, dodge the fire hydrant and peg him just right.

Being a butthole is an art.

[Nagash]

I have been told that Venus is Bouncy. Tie her to your hood when hitting people with yer Jeep. That'll probably increase the distances.

[Atla]

I think Venus is to old and saggy, her tits would drag on the pavement. ;>

[Immigrant]

Tie her to your hood when hitting people with yer Jeep. That'll probably increase the distances.

Don't encourage him! He'll probably just try to beak those records too;p

[Immigrant]

I used to ignore them too, but an unlikely couple of friends of the family shared a story about when they hit hard times: eating garbage out of dumpsters behind restaurants/grocery stores, and ended up hitting bottom begging for a while to get enough money to buy baby food for their 1 year old, finally living on the street in their car looking/smelling awful. At one point a man drove up in a nice car, rolled down the window and handed them a hundred.

They ended up getting enough money to get out and find a cheaper market, got back to work and on their feet and years later he retired with a nice home in a quiet neighborhood in a reasonably nice (nice enough) part of town.

Not everyone out there is a front for something, or are feeding their habit, etc.

Anyway, imagine what it would take for you to stand in front of God and everyone on a corner begging for money. No matter their situation, they aren't in a happy place and could probably use a buck or two we'd only blow on nothing without a 2nd thought or any benefit to us. They no doubt need it more than us.

[Gerien]

I was homeless from 18 to 20 in San Francisco.

[bigSparky]

Immigrant, that's all well and good. For we who have seen the other side of it is another story. In the early nineties, various municipalities in SoCal started enacting no panhandling laws. For good reason. There was a rash of beggars all over LA and the Valley, and points surrounding. One couple, according to the news reports (was validated but so long ago I don't recall exactly how) pulled down an amazing living panhandling. To the tune of $300k plus a year.

A little of my personal experience with it - I worked in LA and the Valley for about eight years in that time frame. Union apprenticeship classes two nights a week at Rayen and Sepulveda, for five years. I would buy my cigarettes at the '76 station on the corner of Roscoe and Sepulveda because they were the cheapest I could find. Many, many times, I would be approached by the SAME people using the SAME story as when they had hit me up only weeks before, at the SAME damn gas station. At Sherman Way and Woodley, for years, every few days I would see the SAME white girl with her sign asking for help because she was homeless. Never when it was cold or cloudy or raining. I suppose it could be coincidence that I only saw her on nice days. But what are the odds. I remember her vividly as she was a fairly striking young gal. I used to pack a large lunch because I lived about 50 miles from work and school. At most of the On/Off ramps were folks with signs saying they were hungry or homeless, often with the Vet card being played. Out of the 50 or so times I offered a sandwich and a soda, it was accepted one time. I gave up offering after a while.

I used to think along the lines of "there but for the grace of God go I". Now, thanks to my credit and ATM cards, I just don't carry cash anymore. A simple "sorry, I don't carry any cash" and I am done with it. No guilt, because I am rarely lying with that response, and no wondering if I've just been "touched".

Owly and Hatama, good show. I'm glad you all had the opportunity to do something for someone, and at the same time be certain you haven't been gotten to. It truly does feel good to give from the heart, for no other reason than it seems to be the right thing to do.

[Immigrant]

Everyone has to do what they think is right - no judging either way, and you're absolutely right - I have no doubt in my mind that many people are pulling the oldest trick in the book and might be making an even better living at begging than you or I do at slaving at a 'real job'.

Back home I've also seen the 'regulars' working opposite corners & sometimes all 4 corners of a busy street or freeway on or off ramp day in & day out, or panhandling anywhere downtown, even at the airport at one time and the list goes on. Ours is a blighted community in this glorious post-industrial era with all too few decent jobs and the usual hard luck story of drugs, prostitution and crime galore, and so on...

I agree you have to use common sense and not be tapped, but there's still the dilemma for a Christian: to give cash, give what you think they need, give them a line why you can't, or turn a blind eye and closed heart. I've been guilty of all of these - no one's perfect, but personally I think you said it best, which applies even to the ones making a living at it:

..but for the grace of God...

If they lie and exploit the good will of others to basically steal, then they're the only ones that will have to face the music for it. Whether you believe in a great spirit, or nothing at all, experience has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt at least for me that what comes around goes around... with a vengeance.

[Immigrant]

...and personally I'd much prefer to see them hitting the bricks and making their living begging, if that's the case, that by mugging our neighbors or breaking into homes.

[Gerien]

I have no doubt in my mind that many people are pulling the oldest trick in the book and might be making an even better living at begging than you or I do at slaving at a 'real job'.

Then you've never done it. Trust me, stories of "rich" panhandlers" are myths.

[Isildur]

so we got her a bag of chips, a bear claw, and some hot chocolate, and a few dollars.

Were you trying to kill her off? Do you know what those bear claws do to your arteries?

j/k in all seriousness, thats a nice story and I'm glad you helped her out and it was someone who genuinely need help and seems like she's not going to take the money to go buy drugs (and that DOES happen even if the rich panhandler thing I agree is largely a myth -- they are probably about as common as the rich guy living at the YMCA because he is so frugal)

Anyway, I've had a few panhandlers over the years I even got to know by name. One example is good ol Reggie (guy without legs -- and quite a few other problems) who would sell peanuts outside the Desire Oyster Bar on Bourbon Street in the Vieux Carre. I haven't been back since Katrina, but wonder if he made it, how he is doing? I always would buy some peanuts from him and give him a nice tip on top of it.

Got a guy who I'm starting to trust down in Texas and he gets spare change (sometimes mixed in with pesos but he doesn't mind) pretty regularly.

And when I'm going places that I expect to see panhandlers, I sometimes plan in advance and get gift certificates to places like mcdonalds or better yet local breakfast joints...places without booze.

If they get disgruntled when you give it to them, then you know they were wanting drug money. If they bless you and thank you, they probably genuinely need it.

Of course I still remember this one gal who looked like Shamu the Orca was beached outside Bengals stadium after a football game saying "please help me I'm starving". C'mon, she had a good 200 pounds to lose before starvation started to become a risk.

[Thomas]

Around four years ago I worked for at the county Sheriffs dept. I worked in the jail. Anyhow, in the winter time we got to know the homeless in the area real well. They would commit minor crimes to escape the bitter cold. We knew them all by name.

One guy named Floyd used to always asked for a sandwich. We gave them one when they came in. Just Balonga and a pack of salad dressing. But man, he was happy to get it. Never caused any problems, but was drunk as a skunk when he came in.

Then we'd get guys like Harold, who had Hepatitis among other things. He come in drunk off dollar store mouthwash and yelling at everyone, calling us the N-word no matter whhat color we were. When he was really bad, be used to try and spit on us. Hell, he only weighed 155, but he'd be so drunk sometimes he'd try to fight us.

Unfortunately, we'd get more Harolds then Floyds. Dealing with the "true" homeless (folks who've been on the street for years and would be there till they died) has hardened me. I've been known to give an individual a bag full of McDoubles, but they have to look like they're really living it. Maybe that's screwed up, But I can still smell that nasty mouthwash smell every time I see a real homeless cat. Fighting them bastards while they were sauced up really ticked me off, due to their general nastyness in hygene, being crazy, and generally bitter.

Oh, and Harold more often then not crapped his pants when we were wrestling him down. Yes, we had to force shower him, too.

[Kaxion]

Then you've never done it. Trust me, stories of "rich" panhandlers" are myths.

Not entirely true Gerien possibly a rarity but not entirely a myth. The Toronto paper busted a woman who used to drive from Hamilton to the Toronto subway and panhandle she drove a mercedez and owned a 350000 home.

All of this was proven by the Toronto sun.

[owly]

Then you've never done it. Trust me, stories of "rich" panhandlers" are myths.

Not entirely true Gerien possibly a rarity but not entirely a myth. The Toronto paper busted a woman who used to drive from Hamilton to the Toronto subway and panhandle she drove a mercedez and owned a 350000 home.

All of this was proven by the Toronto sun.

Hell i got a magic marker and some cardboard i should pan handle for that kind of living Geesh.....

[Gerien]

Please do not believe that this is anything more than an anomaly, if true at all. (I'd want to check sources to confirm the Sun did in fact "prove" it. This has "get emotional to read our paper more" written all over it.) Regardless, the reason I detest the urban legend of the rich panhandler is that too many people - consciously or not - file that story away in their heads and inevitably equate all panhandlers as the same: theiving, manipulative people who are making "free" money when they should be working "honest jobs like you and me". Not saying you think that, but it's a perception that is reinforced by this legend, and probably where the legend came from in the first place.

[owly]

i seen a tv show once i forget which channel and tv station but on it the they followed pan-handlers home and all the people that was faking it they showed them getting in cars and driving home to nice houses now. i seen it a few years ago but the people they covered was extremely well off. in Vegas when i was homeless i would see kids pan-handling and after i'd see them buying McDonalds and other places they looked to me like they didn't need the money at all, and was just hornswoggling and defrauding people with big hearts......