Sweet Luggage
People who request money on the street for no other service than to leave you alone will be referred to here as "homeless", though they may have a decent home.
I give out my change along my walk from the metro to the place I work in the Hill area of DC. If I have any. Apparently I have enough that some of them wave to me now and then.
I don't do the shun thing unless it's a really cracked up individual.
If I'm going into a market and there's a guy by the door asking for change we can believe in, before he asks I will say "I'll get you on the way out." And I do. Even if they're looking the other way, or maybe packing to move to the bus stop.
Today there was a homeless man across the street from the metro. He had three pieces of luggage. Decent luggage. It matched. D and I have done enough dumpster diving to know that people throw away some good garbage. We go more after antique furniture to refinish, or in my case, bicycles. But good luggage can be handy. Except maybe if you're homeless. I would think that would turn people off who would be otherwise charitable. Like me. People who don't engage themselves as if they are the ultimate DC Busyperson. There are many of those around this area. I love it when three or four leave an office and walk down the sidewalk abreast of each other because nobody is willing to back down from the alpha position. Jagoffs.
Anyways, I didn't give him money mostly because I was working out the equation of Homeless Man+Good Luggage=?
In an entirely unrelated event except for it being an hour earlier, I met D for lunch. We ate, talked a lot, and I broached the subject of two job possibilities for me. Far away, and an hour further than far away. One pays great, the other pays OK but is in extremely low cost of living area and would allow me to pursue a free graduate degree.
D told me to pursue the positions, that she would love to live in one of those two places. Realistically, her job is here and I would never make what she does. Anywhere.
So more things to think about. I'm glad I got it off my chest though. She has a knack for easing my anxiety. No decisions need to be made this week.
Total Comments 6
Comments
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I'm the same way. If a person asks and I have some cash or change, I will give them something. I don't really care what they do with it.Posted 10-08-2009 at 07:06 AM by mixedmedia
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You should get a sweet sleeping bag to go with that luggage: ThinkGeek :: Tauntaun Sleeping BagPosted 10-08-2009 at 07:30 AM by Plan9
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I can understand the reluctance to donate to a homeless person with matching luggage. Did he just lose his job/house/spouse and that's all he's left with? Did some misguided do-gooder think this would be of benefit to him? Did he find a game ticket that awarded him the luggage?
One of the real problems I do have with panhandlers is the idea that giving them money is often going to feed an addiction. The trade off between enabling their lifestyle and genuinely helping them is a difficult one for me. Even my preferred solution of actually buying that meal or coffee for them is really just a difference in my mind. The then simply use money they would have eventually spent on those things to feed their addiction.
I find walking by someone in need without offering something is always one of the hardest things to do.Posted 10-08-2009 at 07:31 AM by GreyWolf
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I don't really have a problem feeding a person's addiction, unless as I said they seem cracked up. Generally the heavily addicted people around my stop don't have it together enough to panhandle. They mainly lie down in the park where the ducks and rats are running around.
But if it is a person's agenda to gently ease into death by blocking out portions of the day, who am I to argue?
The guy with the luggage probably found it. People here throw away stuff on a whim.Posted 10-08-2009 at 11:57 AM by Poppinjay
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My thinking is along your line there Poppinjay. I understand that a lot of people on the streets have substance abuse problems, but it's a simple mathematical fact that the number of people out there far outweigh the resources available to help them. Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc. Some people will end up at places like these and many more will fall through the cracks. Therefore, I really don't have a problem with enabling their temporary distraction from what appears to be a miserable situation. As if my not giving them a dollar is going to show them the error of their ways. Certainly my judgement as I'm walking by isn't.
Then there are those out there on the streets by choice and if this is their preferred method of getting by, panhandling, I really don't have a problem with that, either.Posted 10-08-2009 at 12:19 PM by mixedmedia
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Actually, I almost always DO give something if I have any loose change (in Canada, change goes up to $2, our bills only start at $5, which is a little high for a street handout IMO). As I said, my preferred alternative if they say it's for coffee or a bite to eat is, if I have the time, to go into a coffee shop and grab them a coffee & muffin. It just makes me feel I haven't contributed directly to their problem.
This is, of course, nothing more than rationalisation, because they just need less money since at least part of their hunger needs have been met. But it makes me feel that I haven't directly contributed to their self-destructive problem.
And I realise it's also very judgmental of me. Not all street people have substance abuse problems. Many, especially today, may be victims of circumstance. I tend to be very conflicted as to what is really the best thing to help these people.Posted 10-09-2009 at 06:31 AM by GreyWolf
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