If I see a homeless guy working for people's money, I respect that. I don't always give them money, but I respect it. Even if they did the ole steall all the papers with .50 trick. It's the paper companies fault for making it so easy for people to steal more than one paper... On my walk to work, I see a homeless guy selling water. I don't know how he got the water,etc, but I respect him for doing more than just sitting there or sleeping on a major walkway...
If a bum is in such bad shape that he has to live on the street and beg for change, I reach in my pocket and give it to him. It doesn't hurt me a friggin' bit.
And there is nothing wrong with that. But, it does not encourage them to better themselves. Charity, when done the right way, is fine. Personally, I don't give to anyone directly. I do, however, give a lot to my church, and trust them to help those who are need. I donate clothes, and other goods, to Good Will and the Salvation Army on a regular basis. It agravates me when I see the same individuals, day in and day out, standing on the corner with their hands out. There are plenty of ways for these people to climb out of the cellar. Some don't want to. So, what does that tell me? It tells me that they are unwilling to help themselves. If they are so lazy that they won't help themselves, then why should I help them?
I have a cousin who's mother is schizophrenic, it it didn't develop until she was in her 30's. She is sometimes in and out of homeless shelters in the Dallas area. (When she will go to one, which she often will not.) My uncle died years ago but my father and all of his brothers look like my late uncle. None of them can check on her (when they do track her down) because her paranoia about my late uncle (who never laid a hand on her according to my cousin) since they look like him. When ever one does track her down, they have to send their wife in to check on her. She never remembers who they are. They have tried to help her, but because of her illness, she does not even recognize that she needs help and she gives whatever is given to her to others because "they" are the ones that need help. Last time someone saw her (about 6 years ago) she had just given her shoes to another homeless person who she thought needed them more. This woman has been in treatment a few times, but one of the real tragedies of the disease is that when she is on medication and gets her symptoms under control, she thinks she is ok and goes off of them, which leads her right back to the streets. Plus, even if she wanted help now, mental health services have been cut so much in almost every state, that help is hard to come by. There is a waiting list of thousands in Oklahoma for help, and they will likely never get any treatment because of lack of funding. (Precious few beds and care givers.) I don't know what the percentage of homeless are mentally ill, but I would guess it is quite high. Many of the homeless you see simply cannot help it. Their diseases prevent them from leading an even half-way normal life. And with lack of treatment, there is no place for them to go except for the shelters, and many of them will not go to one because of the paranoia associated with their illness. Instead of pushing the homeless aside, funding for mental health needs to be increased, and the laws changed to allow their families to have power of attorney even when they are on their meds. As it stands now, they are "competent" when on their meds and complete control cannot be given to others.
I think that is a fair point to make. Their are tons of ways to help the homeless and giving them money directly probably is one of the worst. I will, from time to time, give a guy a buck or two if it is in my pocket and I don't have to pull out my wallet. I will also offer to buy them a sandwich or burger from time to time. The ones that are actually hungry and not just scheming for booze will take it. As far as impact on the homelessness problem giving to faith based groups is probably the best way to go. As far as donations to Goodwill, I make them from time to time, but I shop there alot as well. Salty did you by any chance just donate a bunch of Journey records? Cause if so...thanks man.:thumb:
I have a cousin who writes for the Mobile newspaper and she did a story about the homeless in Alabam. A large percentage were suffering from some type of mental illnes, most commanly depression. The percentage of the chronic homeless who remained so by choice was small.
My favorite "homeless guy" is definately a tossup between this black guy who hangs around The Chimes and has told "It's my daughters birthday today and I would really like to buy her a present" like 5 times this year and the white guy who stands on the corner of College and Corporate because he does the Catholic cross whenever people give him something. I think the white guy is my favorite though because I see him more (pretty much every monday I go to CiCi's $5 pizza buffet) and because I've seen him walk over to his car, which is parked at the gas station across the street and drive away. Homeless people, you gotta love them for their crazy antics and stories.
Now Orlando is joining in the silliness: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/25/D8J35ML02.html I find it ironic that they'll pass this kind of law, but stay quiet on a limitation of how many lil bastards can accompany their parents on trips there.
I don't see a reason to deny food to someone just because they are homely. Folks ain't got a choice of who their parents are and can only do so much about the way they look. This thing in Vegas is just gonna bring about a lot of real skinny homely people. That ain't right. I was in a Wal-Mart in Natchitoches on Sunday. There are a lot of homely white folks there but from what I could see, they are feeding their homely folks real good.
