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AnthonyVillalobos,
Merely asserting that you are right doesn't make it so. Why don't you actually respond to my arguments about donating time/money versus giving a buck on the street, instead of just calling me a piece of shit. Seriously, I'm interested in what you have to say.

And by the way, I grew up in Humboldt Park, which anyone who lives in Chicago can tell you ain't no suburb. And it certainly wasn't when I lived there as a child twenty years ago.

If you are refering to those clear boxes on convenient store counters, no I don't donate to those. Why would I put a couple bucks in the box when the homeless man is sitting right there in front of the store? I don't need a middle man, and I'm not gonna go out of my way to disassociate myself from a homeless person in fear of looking "progressive".

I'd rather give that homeless person my 3 or 5 bucks directly instead of the $2 he'll probably get after the money gets counted at whatever headquarters does the charity in the first place. I'm not trying to fill someone who doesn't need my moneys' pockets while I'm trying to help someone in need.

I don't really care what the more "adult approach" is. I grew up in a neighborhood surrounded by homeless people that once were neighbors in my apartment complex and I can tell you they too don't give a fuck about "adult approach" by donating to charities or the guy who gives him/her a couple bucks in person. All they care about is that they're getting help, and I prefer to give person on person just so I could serve them some company seeing as most of them like human legit human contact. Much the kind that is usually shunned them.

I do a lot of shit around her in Vegas by myself that I tell noone about. I give out jeans, shoes, coats I no longer use directly to the person in need. Mainly in the tunnels of Vegas. I don't do this shit for a pat on the back or some spiritual reward. I don't bring peers with me into these ankle high sorm drains so they can tell me how "proggressive" giving to the homeless will make me. I do this shit by myself and like I said I'm not looking for a pat on the back, I just have respect for a lot of these people and and I'm willing to lend my hand to them when they need it.

It just seems to me our heads are in different places.

AnthonyVillalobos wrote:I don't really care what the more "adult approach" is.

Thanks for making my point.

Christ.

big_dave wrote:Christ.

The answer was right in front of us all along. How could we be so blind?

syntaxfree07 wrote:

big_dave wrote:Christ.

The answer was right in front of us all along. How could we be so blind?

Consider this thread your Damascus.

Two or three weeks ago, I donated 50 dollars (via Paypal) to Darfur refugees. I could barely afford this donation, but I felt an overwhelming need to give it at the time. I'm not exactly sure why, and furthermore I don't care.

Within a week of that, I gave away about 15 dollars to three different panhandlers.

One was actually a set of panhandlers, a husband and wife, dressed up nicely, trying to get "money for a trolley ride to get back to the hotel" because they left their "wallets" in "the hotel room." Saw the woman's teeth and the fiver came flying out of my pocket. A for effort.

One of the other panhandlers was a guy hanging around outside the neighborhood liquor store. I think I gave him a fiver-- though it could have been two bucks, can't remember. This was on my way into the liquor store. On my way out, as I walked past the man, he asked me for money again, and I said, "Hey, I just gave you five bucks, remember?" And he was like, "Aww shit that's right." Then I realized that because I was on medication, there was no way I would drink more than two (maybe three) beers that night. So I said, "Hey you want a BEER?" He said, "Hell yeah, that's what I'm here for." So I gave him one. Then I said, "Hey do you want TWO beers?" And at this point he was grinning like it was Christmas. So I gave him the second beer and then made my way home.

The third panhandler I gave money to was a worn-looking man of about forty who approached me at about three in the morning as I was on my way to the convenience store half a mile east of here. I was super sick that night and getting some "basics" to nurse my cold. Can't remember how exactly the discussion went but I pulled out a fiver and gave it to him. Seeing that I had a little more than five dollars to spare, the panhandler took on an increasingly intimidating demeanor. "This is a rough area," he said. "Yeah?" "Yeah. It's not a very safe place to be at night." "Is that right?" "Yes. It is. You gotta be very careful around here." Then I said, "REALLY, that's strange. I never thought is was all that dangerous here. I live right down the street." As soon as I said this he realized he'd made a blunder, trying to bully a guy who'd just given him five bucks. Then he told me what a nice guy I am and we walked, mostly in silence, to the convenience store.

TODAY, about an hour ago, this guy decked out in fancy hip-hop gear decided to pester me, "Excuse me... Excuse me..." He didn't know (or care) that I'd had a long day and that I was in no fucking mood to deal with him and his shit. He then said "Excuse me.." a couple of times but more and more aggressively. He started hovering toward me and then I said, "FUCK OFF" very loudly. He took offense to this and said, "WHAT?" expecting a reply and possibly an altercation. I just kept on walking.

I will spend my own money however I damn well please.

i didn't have plans for the pocket full of change i had.

and by "pocket full" i mean less than $0.25. if i have more than that in my pocket i don't give more than that anyway.

if it's a long, dragged out hardluck story, same thing. "all i got ($0.25), good luck."

like i don't need my money. i got little sympathy. if you can't work there's a chance you're useless and could do well to just die and do us all a favor.

a man who can't work is a man who can't eat.

i have issues believing there are just no jobs. there is a singular job that probably won't support you. there are second jobs that will. you don't like that, do something about it. make yourself worthy of having a singular supporting job. if no two jobs'll do that, maybe try to find another one that will.

your drug addiction, drinking problem, and laziness are not my job to support. though it might be my mother's.

We live in a sick society. Therefor it's unconscionable for us to turn our backs on people. We can't just sit around passivvely punishing people who've failed to find their way into the system. Sure, we're all hanging on too, most of us, but at least that's an option we have while still living within the system. Someone outside of it, his version of "hanging on" is dramatically different. It would be like comparing the "prison" of depression with actual prison.

Being resolutely unsypathetic isn't a good character trait.

Ekkssvvppllott wrote:Being resolutely unsympathetic isn't a good character trait.

if humans were an endagered species, i'd feel different. as it is there's a hell of a lot of us. as it is, some measure of population control should have been enforced or at least suggested or at least rewarded. it wasn't.

so now we have a worldwide society that takes full advantage of the fact that life is cheap. don't think that won't get worse either.

i don't really give money to anyone. i'm sorry life is shitty, my quarter won't help your starving.

if you really wanted to help them you'd really help. not give them a handful of change to shut them up.

aside from anyone who really is down there is the large contingent of grifters with the hard luck story. so, who's who, how can ya tell? and aside from all that there are the people from the "adult homes" looking for money to buy alcohol and cigarettes. aside from all that there are the panhandling "travelling kids." and then there's the addicts.

so between the actual down, grifters, drunks, and punks, and addicts, where does my money go? my pocket. the only lifestyle i see fit to support is my own.

i'm sorry you failed at life but you're not my responsibility. really, i'm sorry.

you're not special because you're hungry.