Back when I was going downtown for classes I'd run into all sorts of people while waiting for the bus (or heading to the bus stop) and if someone asked and I had money, I gave whatever I had (which usually wasn't much anyway). Mostly it was because the liquor store was across the street from the stop, so I had a lot of them asking me for exactly 87 cents. One of them even showed me his cards to prove that he was a war vet to add on the sympathy, but I was already giving him my change so it wasn't necessary…I felt pretty bad for him. I was waiting a while for the bus and another homeless guy approached me and at first I was worried that he might want some change too and I'd given mine away already, but instead he told me it was a really nice thing I did for the other guy and gave me a flower (a petunia he picked it out of someone's window tray but it was the thought that counted!) and he chatted with me about how he was going to have a career in the NBA and such, I can't recall if he said why it fell through.
I've found that the homeless people near the college bus stops were much, much nicer than most of the people that actually rode the buses with me.
Also, in Michigan there's a 10 cent refund on soda bottles and cans, so whenever I had a bottle that was nearly empty I had people asking for it. Events downtown usually attract the guys with bags looking for people that are drinking pop.
I've been especially sensitive to the way people are treated since I was waiting for the bus another day, and I was sitting in the shadows up against a brick building on a hot day while drawing my comics, and some jerk in a nice suit passes by and huffs and stutters at me to "Get a job you bum" and I say back, " I'm just waiting for the BUS!" (he ignored me and kept walking, I don't think my justification worked since lots of homeless people wait for the bus too)
I may have been sitting there with a backpack, but I was far from looking like a homeless person! Another time a couple mistook me for a teen runaway and they were trying to offer me a ride to some shelter, at first I was really confused and a little nervous and then I realized what they wanted and said "I'm older than I look, I'm attending the college over there and I'm just waiting for the bus home!" and they were like "oh, my mistake! We thought you were a runaway…" I let them see my college ID and everything so they wouldn't worry! The problem is I'm up to my eyebrows in social anxieties and being downtown by myself always made me nervous, so I probably did look pretty pathetic and I probably looked like I was gonna start crying or something. Waiting for that horrible bus…ugh.
Anyway, it may be naive of me, but I tend not to have any qualms giving money to people who ask for it. I don't spend a lot of money anyway, so what's a few bucks for someone who needs it? (though I prefer to donate it to a charity or something similar) I may not know how to spot a professional scam artist, but I wouldn't want people to judge me like that if I were in an actual dire predicament either. That said, people that aren't in need who abuse generosity just to fill their pockets make me feel ill.
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Comic Talk and General Discussion *
Do You Give Money to Homeless People?
I don't give them money, generally because they always go and buy booze, often as soon as you give them the money. I remember an incident where we actually gave this guy some money because he seemed desperate(it was at a red light) he then immediately went into the gas station and came out with beer.
That just irks me
I don't give them money, generally because they always go and buy booze, often as soon as you give them the money. I remember an incident where we actually gave this guy some money because he seemed desperate(it was at a red light) he then immediately went into the gas station and came out with beer.
That just irks me
that must have been a long light …
booz is essential stuff when you're homeless , you ever try sleeping on a wooden bench at noon when its 90 degrees ? you need to be pretty damn drunk to pull that off.
I did once and I hated myself for it. Not for the sake he needed it (I found him rummaging through trash a few mins later) but I thought he was just some guy who needed a little more for bus fare. I don't like being lied to for something I probably would have given it to him for anyway.
A few months later, an old lady sitting on a bench downtown starts it up, "I have nothing…"
The cigarette in her hand told me otherwise. If she can afford addictions, she doesn't need my dime. I brushed her off.
Having been desperately poor all my life, I've never felt sympathetic to people asking for a hand out. Life is hard and I've been working since I've been 8. I still pick up my pennies, I don't see why I should give what I spent time on to some random person who won't get it together. Everyone has a sob story and problems. I don't need more.
No- I don't give any money to homeless people.
There are different kinds of homeless people. Some of them lost their jobs and homes, and are trying to redeem themselves. Some of them (very few, I'll add) are homeless by choice. The rest were runaways, and attempt to prove something on a much larger scale.
Anyway, I would usually find them with signs in areas with heavy traffic. "Plz give me food, Jesus saves" "Hungry, help me" "Need money 4 family, God is with you" etc. A strange feeling occurs when you are in the middle of heavy traffic, and a homeless person with one of these signs is staring you down. Somehow, their eyes meet mine (as opposed to everyone else's) and they give me this intimidating look, almost trying to hypnotize me.
Also, I once saw someone giving a few dollars to a homeless person on the street. Homeless people crowded her, and she finally had to run.
Giving money to someone you don't know is sort of dangerous, because you don't know what they are capable of doing.
Yeah. Plus, I don't have any money.
I thought of this because a bum at school gave me the short version of his sob story ( He lost his house, etc. ).
I was SO close to just walking away, but out of the goodness of my heart…
I gave him a 1.35 in quarters.
What about you guys? Are there any "Get-a-job-you-bum" people in here? Or more "It-wasn't-their-fault" people?
Yeah they can get a job… NOT just sit there and beg for money. They could get more money at Mc Donalds than off the streets.
It's hard to get a job if you're homeless. Even at fast food chains. My friend would always buy vitamin enriched power bars and give them to homeless people who asked for food. I've started doing that too, but if they start on a "my kid needs five bucks for medicine" or "need bus fare home", I ignore them.
No, I do however donate to charity and I also donate old clothes to "Fretex" (think of it as a secular salvations army kind of thing). I don't buy the Norwegian equivalent of The Big Issue because I find it uninteresting though I used to buy The Big Issue itself fairly regularly.
i live in vancouver, there's a HUGE homeless population here.
awhile back, the only long-term care facility for mentally ill people closed down. the patients had nowhere to go.
unfortunately addiction is a huge problem here, too, and so many people are written off as drug addicts when they are extremely psychologically ill.
but it is very hard for homeless people to get jobs. it's not as simple as 'get a job, bum'.
no, i don't give money to homeless people. i do not want any of my money to go towards a dangerous drug habit, and there's usually just no way to tell for sure.
i do buy them food when i can, and have given away a couple scarves, though.
I often dont. Most are just their because they cannot be bothered to find a job.
I see one person begging for money but i seen him like a normal person and yet i see a person. Long beard, ruined clothes and a walking stick. just walking around or sleeping but i have yet to see him beg for money,
If i have like 1 pence and i just feel like it i just give it to them. Not all the time mind.
The school I work out is in Downtown Los Angeles. So yeah, kicking down the homeless with change is fundamental.
However, sometimes, you get a bit…well…spent giving to them. I prefer buying them a bite to eat if I'm near a restaurant or mini-mart.
In my own neck of the woods, I saw a man and his son (in a wheelchair) come through the gas station in my neighborhood and of course, he asked for money. I elected to buy his son food and water given that it was a hot, summer day. Well, once we got into the place, not only did this man's son 'wake up' and get out of his wheelchair to walk around the store (the kid must have been 10 years old) - this kid demanded a cup of flavored coffee and told me, "I don't see anything here that I like eat".
They got zilch from me. And I drove off!
Still, goodwill to some is always good. You never know how life could turn for you. Do unto others and what not…
This may sound terrible, but there are just some homeless people I don't feel sorry for. Like there's this one guy I know…who is homeless but just seems to take advantage of people even his friends. Then just the other day i find out that he's homeless of his own free will. It's not like he was kicked out or abused etc.
It's not like I'm going to base all homeless people on just one guy, but it has made me a little bit wiser. I donate what i can (used clothes, books etc.) but i'm going to be selective towards who i help, if only to discourage pretenders.
This may sound terrible, but there are just some homeless people I don't feel sorry for. Like there's this one guy I know…who is homeless but just seems to take advantage of people even his friends. Then just the other day i find out that he's homeless of his own free will. It's not like he was kicked out or abused etc.
It's not like I'm going to base all homeless people on just one guy, but it has made me a little bit wiser. I donate what i can (used clothes, books etc.) but i'm going to be selective towards who i help, if only to discourage pretenders.
Your story is not unique. Many do simply choose to be homeless. A surprisingly large number actually, and for various reasons. I don't pretend to understand it, it just is.
In a country full of poor people (I mean people POORER than me) seeing beggars and bums is an everyday thing. I only give money to people who REALLY NEEDS it. And I see to it whether they're still fit to work or not. You see, there's a huge difference between beggars and BUMS. I only give money to beggars.
Beggars are people who are, in anyway, unable to work either because they're handicapped, suffering from a terminal illness and children (only the ones where they have open wounds all over their bodies, there are a lot of scammers out there after all). These people are in no way responsible for their misfortune and they are the ones who are in need for help through food and money.
On the other hand… BUMS are…
LAZY, unproductive people, waiting for luck while sitting on their ass all day waiting to be fed or idiots putting up signs, asking for help even when it's already obvious that they're just BUMS. They are not deserving of any help. They should try to help themselves first before expecting for anyone else to help them in their time of need.
I only help the needy.
I do not help people who brings misfortune upon themselves by wasting their lives, doing things that could only worsen their mind, body or life (like crimes, drugs, gambling etc)
Also, luck only shines upon others who works hard and face the realities of life. Nothing would come out of dilly-dallying.
I live in the suburbs so I hardly see any homeless people but when I do see them in more city-areas, I always feel compelled to give them money… but I usually don't and feel super guilty as I pretend to ignore them. I can't help thinking, "What if they really did need the money?" Gah, I hate that.
The one time I gave something to a homeless person, it was my youth group and we gave him a bagel and a carton of orange juice. He then gave us a speech, "Thomas Jefferson said, Give me Liberty or give me death, I say Give me change or I will Kill you." Then he thanked us for the food and walked away. So I don't because I really don't know what they'll do.
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