On 1/14/14 11:22 AM, Marcus G. Dismal wrote:
On 1/14/14, 11:06 AM, glen soapbox on a ropella wrote:
These smaller scale donations increase the interpersonal interactions
within
the neighborhood, effectively mixing the well off with the homeless.
And that helps how? To humiliate the people that need help?
The worst "job" on the planet I think is the one where you stand in line
for your food stamps or welfare check and have to make up creative
stories based on the bureaucracy's current arbitrary standards to not
lose said "job". It isn't necessarily "humiliating" but i think it is
"soul crushing". In the spirit of undermining my own hyperbole, I'm
sure there are plenty of "jobs" on the planet worse than being on public
assistance... ones which are not only humiliating and soul crushing but
miserably painful and overtly dangerous as well. *We* live in a very
luxurious world when mere "humiliation" is the worst of our problems.
I generally don't hand out cash to homeless, but I do occasionally buy
them a meal, give them a ride, and/or sit and talk with them...
sometimes they are incredibly interesting people, and I don't think I'm
wrong that my willingness to engage with them as human beings nourishes
them as much as the hot meal. And it often nourishes me. At that
point, I have been known to be very generous with cash if it feels like
such an infusion will do them more good than harm. I can't possibly
guess that walking by in a "hit and run" act of charity, or by simply
paying my taxes without grumbling out loud.
I don't expect many people to do this. Most are more comfortable
throwing a few crumpled bills or a quarter at them or giving their old
coats to goodwill and writing it off of their taxes at "replacement
cost", or even accepting/supporting tax/spend liberalism. Those are all
valid ways to give... I just prefer the personal when I can muster the
time/energy/perspective to do so.
As for the homeless woman in the streets? I once "rescued" a homeless
man by letting him live with me for two weeks, while he saved the cash
he was making emptying trashbins and sweeping up at a fast food
restaurant so he could rent a flophouse room. I went with him to the
flophouse and ended up fronting him the 1 week deposit (2 weeks in
advance, 1 week deposit was the deal). To celebrate his new home, we
walked a block to the closest liquor store and sat on the curb sharing a
pint of MD2020 out of a "drinking sack". We were friends for years
after that... he never got "completely right", he had too many
fundamental problems (he traced them back to heavy drug use in his late
teens, I took his word for it)... he had a lot of issues with impulse
control and judgement, being easily 'taken advantage of' by others.
Except for two weeks under my roof, some hot water, and some incidental
meals (and I bought the MD2020) I never "gave" him anything but my time
and interest which was truly genuine. He was an interesting man,
because of as well as in spite of his flaws. I have not done the same
since. I had the good fortune of getting to know "Jose" fairly well
before I made the offer.. so I knew roughly what i was getting into...
there were a few surprises and several inconveniences... but it felt
like a win/win to me.
- Rainbow Brite
PS. I really do try to keep from farting rainbows in this elevator that
is FRIAM. I used to think it was my diet of mystic poets and sappy love
songs on Pandora which generated such colorful gas, but I'm pretty sure
now it is just my constitution... and a reaction to the Murky Dismal of
the news stream when it dribbles in through the leaks in my dikes.
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