EPT(meeting homeless people)
Met a Homeless Man - Page 2
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HeavOnEarth
United States7087 Posts
(meeting homeless people) | ||
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Noxie
United States2227 Posts
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Murderotica
Vatican City State2594 Posts
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The KY
United Kingdom6252 Posts
On March 08 2011 22:20 happyft wrote: Hate to say this, but the truth is that there are resources out there for the homeless. Free shelters aren't the greatest, but not only are there soup kitchens but also pantries for food. Public libraries offer free job hunting resources (training of skills as well as interviews). Larger churches offer all of the above, as well as counseling for drug-abusers, relationship reconciliation, and spirituality. I know this because I've volunteered all of the above, and spoken to people while doing so. Not only that, but there are even more resources for those who are younger, abused, or orphaned. On top of all this, I've been had so many times by homeless people. I've seen one war vet with the kindest eyes show up the morning after with used smack in this pocket the morning after I gave him $20 for a "cab ride to the hospital". Another guy claimed to be needing to get back home to South Carolina, I actually paid for his bus ride back, and yeah I saw him the next day claiming he got mugged. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but when I re-read my journal a few weeks later, I realized I had met him 4 years prior, with a similar story (good thing they don't lie about their full names). Some guys I couldn't follow-up with -- others, when I have, every single time I've been disappointed. You may call me cynical and jaded, but I've talked with these guys, volunteered with and spoken to social workers, read up autobiographies of people who went through shelters and homelessness -- and the people you see panhandling on the street are for the most part lifers. For them, they see it as their job. Getting money via their stories, that's their "work". The real people who need your help, they're not on the street -- they look exactly just like you and me. But you'd never see it. Because they're doing the grind, trying to make ends meet with multiple part-time temp jobs, making up when they fall short with pantries, soup kitchens and the resources out there. Edit: re-reading my post, I think I came off a little harsher than I intended. I can't deny that I've been hurt and embittered by the dozens of times I've been lied to and manipulated for money by the homeless -- that's probably a big factor in my tone of voice in the above post. But I do want to qualify what I said with two thoughts: (1) we are to always feel compassionate for all people, no matter who; and (2) as Mother Theresa once said, what is it to me if the homeless misuse and abuse what I give them? I just need to do what is right. ...But yeah, maybe what I was trying to say was that it might be more effective if we were to volunteer our time rather than our money. I agree with the last bit at least, but what I was saying is that if a homeless person spends money you give them on drugs, that's their look out. The nature of addiction is that they are going to get their fix and even though I loathe the idea of putting money into the hands of dealers, if they need it then they need it. It is more effective to give time rather than money but often you have money but not time. | ||
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QuanticHawk
United States32043 Posts
Eh, getting scooped by the cops and staying in jail for the night is better than the streets of St. Paul, Minn in the winter. Plus, cops late at night with nothing to do will sometimes take those guys to a shelter. a lot of what happyft said is true. I get the same recycled 'homeless' people at my work all the time that stroll over from the nearby ghettos with a new story each day. Most of those people I refuse to give a dime to, and sometimes I'll call them on their bullshit and wait for the cops to track them down further down the street. There's a fair amount of these shitheads depending where you are. The new thing here is that some of them clean up a bit more and act like they're selling candy for the Boys & Girls Club. Pro-tip: if it's not in one of those fundraising card board boxes, say no thanks and call the cops. There's also plenty of genuine good dudes who have shit misfortune or whatever. I don't get them too much by my work (I'm more in a very large, urbanish suburb than a genuine city), but I see them in the NYC all the time. It's sad. If I bump into one of those while I'm out I do something usually. Actually, probably one of the coolest, most eye opening experiences I ever had was helping out with this thing for a night http://www.homelessbus.org/ I went around with these guys and gave food and warm clothes to homeless guys all over NYC a few days before Thanksgiving a couple years back I believe. Puts things in perspective a lot | ||
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eight.BiT
United States240 Posts
1. "Your biggest problem is me." Sounds like he spent some time with that one. No one would say something like that without the intention of making you feel guilty. Props to him though.. he must make some steady cash with a real thinker like that. 2. 37 dollars for a shelter? I lived in Minneapolis and 37 dollars could easily get you a motel room for the night in the right neighborhood. Not to mention most of the churches/shelters I used to volunteer at used a free raffle system to determine who stays the night. | ||
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howerpower
United States619 Posts
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StorkHwaiting
United States3465 Posts
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Trowabarton756
United States870 Posts
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awu25
United States2003 Posts
Some people say that these people are unlucky, but I believe that you can't end up as a homeless 30+ year old person unless you've constantly made bad decisions in your life The funniest thing is that our university posts on their site about how they're helping the homeless yet I still see the same 3 homeless guys sitting on the same street for 4 years | ||
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NukeTheStars
United States277 Posts
People will lie to survive. And eventually they will rationalize lying as their new job. | ||
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Talz
Canada30 Posts
I was on the street myself for a short period of time. The truth is, there's no excuse to be on the streets for life. There are so many different programs, free shelters, soup kitchens, even programs to help find employment as was said earlier. Most of these people chose to live the life they do. If you gave them a job right now, they wouldn't know what to do with it. What little they have is often quickly burned away on whatever habit they have, and the smarter ones try and make more by doing what this guy did to you. Panhandling is a skill. There are honest ones, but as was said above you don't notice them much because they're out there pounding the pavement trying to get out, not begging and telling sob stories. | ||
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Cloud
Sexico5880 Posts
On March 09 2011 01:57 Talz wrote: What he said was most likely bullshit. All of it. I was on the street myself for a short period of time. The truth is, there's no excuse to be on the streets for life. There are so many different programs, free shelters, soup kitchens, even programs to help find employment as was said earlier. Most of these people chose to live the life they do. If you gave them a job right now, they wouldn't know what to do with it. What little they have is often quickly burned away on whatever habit they have, and the smarter ones try and make more by doing what this guy did to you. Panhandling is a skill. There are honest ones, but as was said above you don't notice them much because they're out there pounding the pavement trying to get out, not begging and telling sob stories. He did say he had a job. Maybe that's not enough. | ||
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Phant
United States737 Posts
The ones who are genuinely looking for help will take the food, and those who don't have no business getting anything out of me. For every genuinely homeless person who has really struggled and is trying to get back on their feet, there are 100 others trying to take advantage of peoples generosity. The worst thing that has happened was I gave some guy a sandwich, and I saw in my rear view mirror he was holding it up trying to sell it. People say I'm a jerk, but I don't like giving things to people who don't deserve it. | ||
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drgoats
United States310 Posts
On March 09 2011 01:46 NukeTheStars wrote: I worked at a homeless shelter. There's a 90 percent chance he was lying about everything... except the Vietnam thing, of course! People will lie to survive. And eventually they will rationalize lying as their new job. Let's see.... 51 years old. That makes him born in 1960. The Americans exited Vietnam between 1973-75 (thanks wikipedia). So, he was fighting for his country when he was 13 - 15 years old. Sounds slightly suspicious to me. On a side note: I was in Penn Station in NYC once and a homeless guy came up to me. He said it was his birthday and all that he needed was some change. So I asked him what was the date. And guess what, he had no clue, but I still gave him a dollar for the effort. | ||
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HeavOnEarth
United States7087 Posts
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evanthebouncy!
United States12796 Posts
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