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Homeless Peple on the Street

You walk by a homeless person, what do you do?


  • Total voters
    25

Druidus

Keeper of the Grove
Yeah ,I know what your saying. I agree.
Take off the mittens! :p

To get an eight ball of cocaine you'll need something like 400 bucks. Your change probably won't help them much.
 
M

Majikthise

Guest
Mittens !! what a cool idea!! We could give the homeless mittens and their hands would be warm but they couldn't spend them on drugs. Why didn't I think of that!?!?:bonk:
 

Draka

Wonder Woman
I don't usually have money on me to give anyway and I don't do the other two choices so I didn't vote, but...

When I lived in San Diego there were several homeless about. There was a woman with two small children who would dig through dumpsters behind my apartment building, another regular man as well. I would make up sandwiches and such and take them out to them. They always seemed to appreciate it. There was also a main intersection in town that several homeless would beg at and I often noticed that with all the traffic there hardly any cars would stop for them. I always made a point that if I took my daughter out to eat that I would order an extra sandwich or something and cut my doughter's in half (she could never eat a full one anyway) and take our leftovers down to that intersection to hand over to one of them...they always shared anything one might get. Sometimes I would get a bag of hamburgers or tacos or such and just take the whole bag down there when I felt like it. The shelters were over run there and some were just too proud to go there...some of those places are worse than the streets.
 

Circle_One

Well-Known Member
I always give the street punks around here money when I pass them. ALWAYS. I had my life saved by a group of squeegee punks once and since then, I've always given any street punk I've seen money.
 

Saw11_2000

Well-Known Member
thats realy mice of you circle 1. perhsps i shoudld give more money ot homeless people...thanks for everyones opinonis and such.
 

CaptainXeroid

Following Christ
I think a lot of people avoid making eye contact because they feel bad because they can't help every single person on the streets. I've done it before...not proud of it, but I was in a hurry and did not have any money to give. Many people have had uncomfortable or scary encounters with 'street people' and avoid eye contact to avoid a confrontation.

Back in January, I was walking from work to Chic-fil-A. A man approached me and said he needed money to eat. I had 2 free sandwich coupons and offered to buy him a sweet tea and give him one of the coupons so he could have at least one meal that day. He sneered, said some expletives about not asking for 'no damn sandwich', and stormed off.:( Some people are gracious when you offer them something, and some are not.

I can relate to what Fat Old Sun said about honesty. A few years ago, I saw a guy with a sign that said 'I cannot tell a lie. Please give money. I need to drink.'

As for the poll, I would never do the last one, but I have known people who did. Rudeness!! I'm a toss up between the other two.
 

martha

Active Member
I would rather be a sucker than deny any human being a moment of perceived happiness in whatever it is that gives them joy. Frankly I don't give a damn what the heck they use my gift to them for. It is their existance, albeit unknown to me and others how they came to this point in their lives. I would now direct you to a book I am currently reading, that IMHO will blow you all away in your perceptions of the homeless. The title is thus: The Mole People... life in the tunels beneath New York City" by Jennifer Toth, Chicago Review Press, 1993.

Read this book in it's entirety and then come back and post to this thread. We are all full of so called enlightenment about the homeless, believe me my friends, we don't even have a clue. Stop talking from a perceived understanding of a subject we hardly even truly know. I would challenge any of you to tell me the last time you actually spoke to a homeless person, and learned their story. When was the last time you bowed down low to hear their voice?!! When was the last time you actually took the time to find out what a homeless person's situaton was that led them to their position in life?
I am not a total idiot, and I do not think that every homeless person just fell on hard times because of financial troubles. I know the reality. For the most part it is drugs that have played a part in their lives. I also know that there are a great number of mentally disturbed individuals who live below the streets. But in the end I believe that we who have the capacity for understanding and wisdom in such matters, are ultimately responsible for the way that these people live. There is no reason in this world that the mentally afflicted should have to live in such dire circumstances. Read that book!!! I emplore you to read this account, it is not fiction.
It is a constant debate...." We should do something for these people." In the next breath the same people are saying, " Oh no, I don't want one of those houses in my neighborhood!" Well we had better make up our minds. Will you make a difference? It is up to us to take a stand . There are over 6,000 homeless people living in the tunnels that have been accounted for, just in the New York subway . Quite frankly I believe we have put them there, as we do with all of the beings that we can't take the time to understand.
Don't talk about the homeless untill you have actually met them, and tried to understand each story, and just for a moment, just one moment, walked a mile, just one mile in their shoes. It takes a very strong individual to bow down and listen to a person's soul, to delve deep into the reasons behind their coming to this point in their lives. Are you that strong, am I that strong? We could be if we just get over the fear of the encounter.

Sorry for the rant, but I know the reality and am at a personal loss to find the way around the system and the individuals that constantly put up roadblocks to the solutions. Sorry for getting so very heavy in this post, but it just flowed out. I'm done!

p.s. I had to come back to edit this, this morning, for I was truly out of line. My appologies for sounding off. Sometimes the rage against injustice gets the best of me.
 

Circle_One

Well-Known Member
I got arrested once, last summer for standing up for this young street punk that was getting picked on by some drunken ******* jocks. I started a huge fight with them in the middle of McDonalds because they were picking on this poor guy. Got into a massive fight and trashed the McDonalds. Then I got arrested.
 

robtex

Veteran Member
I give them money when I have it to give. which is pretty often. I moved into a nice part of town so i haven't seen many in a while. when i worked downtown i use to give them money all the time and sometimes talk to them....some lived in reality and others not so much so. once i found out one of my old martial arts training buddies was recently homeless after spending much of his income on legal fees. the temperature that weekend for some odd reason was a few degrees above zero farhenheit which is odd for down here..i went to the store bought him some gloves and drove around looking for him but i never found him.....i was really freaked out that my friend ended up losing his home...it was a court battle over crack that officers found him with. I never saw him again and still have the gloves 10 years later....
 

martha

Active Member
Circle, I give you credit for coming to the assistance of this person, but what in the hell were you thinking when you trashed McDonald's? Where did the "help" become anger at the surroundings? Why in the world would you take your anger out on your surroundings? This is something that boggles my mind. Even in a football or soccar game, or perhaps baseball or basketball game, the anger is misdirected, it seems to me. There was absolutely no reason to take out your anger on the McD's right? What in the world would posesses you to do that? I just don't get it and this is a great deal of reason for some of our problems in this world, ie: misdirected anger.

I await your honest reply. Please don't hold back, give us the true time line of your feelings, as they enfolded, please do.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
Im worried that if I do give some money to a homeless person, it might interfer with thier karma, and the person might end up living a good life, when they was supposed to live an impoverished one, and when the homeless person reincarnates, another impoverished life will be lived.
But I will donate to a food-drive, or some meal-type program when I can spare a few extra dollars.

I started a huge fight with them in the middle of McDonalds because they were picking on this poor guy. Got into a massive fight and trashed the McDonalds.
Thier is nothing wrong with trashing a McDonalds. I feel sorry for whoever that was being payed minimum wage to pick up the mess, and then go back to the grill and sweat bucket after bucket.
 

martha

Active Member
Luke Wolf, one's Karma is not only based upon that soul's desire. One' s Karma is based upon ones dealing with and accepting all that is given to it, good and bad.

If a soul chose to be poor and experience all that goes along with being poor, then, that soul should expect to find people who would wish to help it, by their compassion, and thereby helping their own Karma, by being useful to society, or an individual, no?
Just a thought. Blessings to you in your search.
 

kreeden

Virus of the Mind
" You walk by a homeless person, what do you do? "

Don't know ??? Never asked anyone if they were homeless or not .

As for helping people out , it depends upon the feeling I get from the person . Respect runs both ways .
 

Snowbear

Nita Okhata
martha said:
... we don't even have a @##**& clue.
...
Stop talking from your perceived understanding of a subject we hardly even truly know.
Though I pulled myself out of it, I know of what I speak....
 

almifkhar

Active Member
sometimes i give what i can, but most of the time i don't. believe it or not but some people chose to live on the street for what ever reason. and i try to keep this in mind.
 

Melody

Well-Known Member
martha said:
Read this book in it's entirety and then come back and post to this thread. We are all full of so called enlightenment about the homeless, believe me my friends, we don't even have a @##**& clue.
I don't need to read a book to be "enlightened" about the homeless. I don't even need to be homeless to feel empathy for them. The desolation is pretty obvious when you come in contact with them....which is why most people turn their eyes away when they see a homeless person.

About 30 years ago, I worked in a psychiatric hospital for three years in Cleveland, OH. For those who don't know, psychiatric hospitals are the dumping grounds for the homeless during the cold winter months. At the time, the majority of these people were drug addicts, alcoholics, had some type of mental disorder (e.g. schizophrenia), or were just extremely low IQ. I heard a lot of their stories because it was my job to collect any valuables from them and to take their basic information. Ask their name and you get their life's story.

The times they are a-changing. I read an article several years back that said that over 75% of the people in the United States are one paycheck away from being homeless. Get sick and lose *one* paycheck and you can never get caught up because all of your income already goes to housing, transportation and daily living expenses. Get one check behind and it's just not possible to make it up. I'm not talking about the people who are living way beyond their means because they have to have the latest car or stereo. I'm talking about the working poor who are trying to survive on minimum wage. They make too much to get food stamps or other government help but barely enough to put a roof over their head or food on the table. Our local homeless shelter is usually giving shelter to a minimum of 14 *children* and their families on any given month. I would guess it's much higher in bigger cities.

I will offer to feed a homeless person and I will offer them a taxi ride to the local homeless shelter (which by the way, both offers are usually turned down), but I will not hand them money to possibly use for alcohol or drugs. Yes, everyone does deserve a little pleasure in their life, but most recovering alcoholics and addicts will tell you that they are not fulfilling a pleasure. They're warding off the pain of withdrawal....and destroying their lives in the process. Big difference in my book.
 

Fluffy

A fool
If it is the first time they have approached me then I will give them some money (benefit of the doubt in my opinion). If they approach me a second time then I ask them why they are still in need of money at which point they usually leave.

My only exception to this is if they are holding a cigarette packet or an alcohol bottle at which point they get a polite lie: "no sorry I have no money on me"
 
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