They say you should just buy that person food directly. But you don’t owe the guy anything, it’s just nice extra credit if you did something nice
Mr.Scrooge I was wondering if I could take christmas day off to be with my loving family and crippled son?
A nice practical way to take care of need there, Plus in some cases, they need some one to talk to, like to sort out issues they have.
Bn
I have to admit it, Sin just has a way of saying these things that makes me smile.
I can’t entirely relate to your situation since being homeless in Canada is worlds apart from being homeless in Argentina, but I can very much relate to the “bow your head and walk past” situation. Let me try to explain what I deal with:
“Wandering Vendors” is the most common brand of vagrants down here: These people get on a bus (for free, obviously) and try to sell some chap merchandise. The problem gets worse with the Wandering Beggars. These either beg for money by pretending to have some handicap (Fake blinds and mutes are pretty common here, and hilarious when you see just how badly they play their part), pretend some emergency (A woman had to get some sort of life-or-death operation on Thursday. Except she got on my bus on three different days on three different weeks. At the same hour though, which was pretty retarded.) or just plain put puppy eyes and beg. At first it’s pitiful, but when you are getting home after school and/or work and this happens for the hundredth time, it’s just plain irritating. The more you deal with, the less pity you feel and the more you start to see just how much sense Sin’s words make.
Generosity is a virtue, not an obligation. And it’s not even that when half of these people have no intention of ever getting up on their own, which is the case with the great majority down here.
It’s your money. You can do whatever you want with it.
My Dad actually taught me never to give out money to beggars. The reason being that he was actually raised in a poverty-stricken area (granted, not nearly as bad or infamous as some) and he considers it a dangerous thing to give out money to those folks. From what I’ve read from Sinistral’s post, he’d wholeheartedly agree with it. I’ve never experienced poverty, or really witnessed it, but is someone like my Dad has, and still says not to spare a brother a dime despite what my protesting conscience says, I’m going to have to walk away.
I’d feel awfully bad though.
I can’t answer your question, but I guess I could suggest something. Why don’t you just give money to a cause that helps poor people? I helped out at a food pantry place one before, and I can honestly say it soothed the soul, or at least convinced me that I did something that I could really, truly be proud of. Maybe that same guy you didn’t give the money too will go to the same food pantry you drop some food off at?
Your comparison is irrelevant and doesn’t apply because you’re not even comparing the same things. There’s a difference between someone being crushed by someone greedy in times of strife and a parasite being ignored by someone who has nothing to do with him in times of plenty.
Woah, that doesn’t make sense to me though.
Scrooge’s “times of plenty” was his workers “times of strife”. It’s a matter of whatever end of the stick your on. All I’m saying is, how can you say that he’s living in times of plenty if he’s begging for food? I understand your reasoning, it’s just burdened by how blunt and cold you are to the whole matter.
A poor man is still that; a man. Calling him a parasite just because he begs for food means basing his whole existence around just one sad moment in his life. It’s degrading and wrong to me.
There are better ways to help panhandlers than just throwing cash at them when they beg you for it. Don’t feel guilty about not giving the guy your money (actually, what sort of galls me is that he was hanging out around a bank, knowing people are exchanging money in there and won’t have the “no cash” excuse).
I’ve dealt with the panhandling thing a lot myself and had to get over the guilt thing when I didn’t give money. Of course, being called a fucking bitch who’s going to rot in hell after politely acknowledging and refusing helps oodles with that. As far as this “atonement” you’re seeking to perform because you didn’t give money to one person… don’t do something you wouldn’t have done anyway just to soothe your ego/conscience/whatever over this, it’s shallow. Also, you’ll either end up poor yourself from giving all your money away, or you’ll end up guilty forever.
I certainly don’t mean to take away from the plight of people seriously in need, but a lot of these “helpless” ones deliberately take advantage of the feelings you’re experiencing, and you can’t live in guilt or fear of feeling guilty forever. Refer to my first sentence.
Actually, I think it’s pretty smart. It’s harder for people to say “I don’t have any money on me” when they know that the poor, hungry person asking them for cash knows darned well they probably have something on them. I don’t blame him for manipulating someone’s feelings just to better his chances of getting some money so he can eat. The feelings of others have to take a back seat when your survival is at stake.
Time of strife: industrial revolution. Time of plenty: now. Life today isn’t perfect, but if you compare the 2 periods, the oppurtunities available, the behavior of employers and socio-economic conditions overall, the 2 don’t compare.
If you get yourself in shit, it is your problem and your responsibility to get out of it. People are held accountable for their actions.
I’m blunt and cold because I have no pity for the weak. It doesn’t matter if he’s a man. He dictated his position in the food chain through his own volition.
I think its underhanded and despicable. If he cared about his survival, he’d choose to do something other than put people who have nothing to do with him into these kinds of situations.
They said in a commercial in my area you could give your used car away and one of the people that would get them was a poor student struggling through college
Now that’s just a really nice thing to do. A lot of college students really have it hard, don’t have time, and dont have money
But some of them claim it’s the time of their life
Going back to what a lot of you are saying, I DID think of that expression where you shouldn’t help out a starving man or something because it just makes them worse off.
I know that a lot of those types of people are on the streets for bad choices but aren’t we all human…? I know many of them choose to live that way, but it shouldn’t stop me from trying to help them. Even if I have to hand out band aid solutions…I don’t know. The smallest act of kindness seems to be the greatest thing.
On the other hand, I do agree that it isn’t my responsibility to support them and such…and that I earned that money and I had no one saying I had to give it away. Yeah it kinda irked me that he was hanging at the bank and I admit I was skeptical, but my conscience or whatever train of thought society has brainwashed me with, just made me push that aside and feel bad.
I feel bad, but I am also angry at such behaviour. I guess I will have to give money to third parties who deal exclusively with helping people on the streets. That almost makes me feel as I’m just throwing cash at people to remedy the situation though and I feel bad about that as well.
Ahh. Moral crisis. I sometimes curse this goody two shoes thing I have going on.
“I know that a lot of those types of people are on the streets for bad choices but aren’t we all human…? I know many of them choose to live that way, but it shouldn’t stop me from trying to help them. Even if I have to hand out band aid solutions…I don’t know. The smallest act of kindness seems to be the greatest thing.”
I don’t believe in that kind of tripe. Saying “aren’t we human” is just an excuse to be weak and look backward instead of walk forward by confronting the challenges we all have to face.
I agree with you, and I didn’t mean it like the way I think you read it. “I’m only human” is an excuse a lot of people dish out for whatever reason, but in this situation, I guess I just excluded all circumstances- homeless guy (assuming), “wealthy” young girl- I shouldn’t judge him for who he is because ultimately, we’re both people and capable of helping each other/being helped.
However, that’s only one way I’ve been looking at it and as I’ve said, I’m going back and forth between “I shouldn’t have to feel guilty about being harassed” and “It would cost me nothing”.
I already told you what you should do. Listen to The 984.
I’d have just bought the guy a sandwich. Lazy bum, or elsewise…sheesh. 
Come to Montreal Tril. I’ll have you meet a lot of nice people for whom you can buy sandwiches.
Not if I have a rapewish 
Anyway, I guess I’ll try and shove sensitive emotions aside next time
For some reason I thought you were replying to Trillian saying “Not if I want a rapewich”.