Homeless people

So if you see a homeless on the street begging for money...what do you do?

Do you ignore them? Make some sort of comment to them? Give them change? Give them a few dollars?

How do you feel about homeless people? Do you think they can help their situations? Do you feel sorry for them? Does it make you angry?

Just curious.

 

you never know the situation of a homeless person. they may be legitimately homeless with nowhere to turn. they may be kids who just dont want to go back to mommy and daddy. they may be addicts who can't hold jobs or pay bills. they may just be conning you.

if i have anything to spare, i do my best to give people money when i can. i dont care what they spend it on - booze, food, drugs, whatever. if you're addicted to a drug enough to beg, youre likely addicted enough to whore yourself or steal for it. i figure begging is better. if they want to get drunk, thats they're choice.

i figure its better to give a little away to people who dont "deserve" it than to pass by a truly hungry, cold person with no home, no family, no real friends.

i may be pretty low income, but as long as i have enough money i can pay my bills and eat, i figure i should be willing to give a buck or two to someone so they can get their burgers or stampbags or bottles.......

i've known people who begged under false pretenses to get drugs. at least one of them felt bad enough about it that she later on made a habit of giving at least SOMETHING to anyone who asked. she felt that she had cheated people out of bare necessities just because she wanted to get drugs, when she actually had a place to go....she felt she was part of the reason many people dont give beggars money, so she wanted to pay it back to those who needed it, and didn't care to question whether or not they really needed it. i think her attitude rubbed off on me a bit....

its good manners, good karma, and a good deed, not to mention it just might help prevent some worse situations.

 

I give them some change to be honest... always have done.

 

Everytime I see one local I want to drop them off at the end of hhb`s drive. But ya never know what you might be doing is right or wrong.

 

well the last time I seen a homeless guy, he wasnt begging or anything he was sleping on top of a vent thing on the side walk trying to get him self warm ( it was freezing out) ... I felt soo horrible so I bought him a muffin and some hot chocolate. I wouldnt give them money cuz you dont know what its going to but I always suggest buy them food cuz if you give them money and there a drug addict( not saying all homeless people are) your basicly just supporting them living on the streets.

 

ialways give whatever ican to whoever ican wether i can afford toor not
but on the other hand id go weeks without eatting & wouldnt panhandle myself
but yea i've helped people all my life & worked in soup kitchens & really gotten to know alot of homeless people well &
ive met people with all sorts of stories even 1 guy who was really rich untill he was prescribed xanax ?& became addicted & lost his business & his 5 million worth of assets
u never know where or what got em there, even knew 1 whowas ex fbi
who ended on the streets due to everything he had burningin a fire
i usualy dont cary much $ but if im aslked i'll give everything i got on me

 

I'll part with food, clothing, & blankets if I can manage it.

It's true, all kinds of stories behind homeless folks.

 

i donate lots to shelters and places like the salvation army....and whenever i see people on the streets (depending on the situation an circumstances) i'll talk to em, give em change if i can spare it...
i perfer to give my time and energy to try and help people as opposed to just giving money...money is needed yeah.. i just think trying to actually do something with myself to help someone else out is better than just a couple dollars i could give them

 

I usually give something if I can but it depends on the situation. where I live we have normal highschool kids who dress like they are poor and beg downtown but it is easy to spot them. Also it depends how they ask I never give to the ones who are yelling at everyone who do not give them any money.

 

I live near a place called Seven Corners, hence there are Seven Corners. At every corner there is usually a homeless person standing with a sign. I don't usually carry cash with me, but when I do I usually give them whatever I can spare. Also when I use to walk home from work, I would walk by a taco bell where SEVERAL people would beg for others to buy them food. Of course, I would buy them a meal here and there. I really don't like to give them a lot of money. Why? Well, because I'm afraid they are going to spend it on things that probably brought them to where they are today and I don't want to take part in somebody's self destruction. Instead, on the corners last winter I would give them my hat or mittens too. Like I said before, I do give out some money just not a lot. LOL I really don't have a lot anyways.


Where I live, it isn't uncommon at all to see homeless poeple. It's a sad reality. I don't think the government is doing enough and a lot of money used for shelters and such has been cut over the years, especially with the war. Realistically speaking, it's not possible to get everybody off the streets at the moment, but our government could do a LOT more for their people. We are the USA. So why do we have so much poverty?

 

I used to give this one guy oatmeal packets, or an apple..Whatever I hadn't eaten at work on my way home. He'd be on the freeway off ramp. His shoes were worn all down, & his jacket was always ruddy looking...You could tell he had issues.

He'd always give me a big smile, & a good lookin' out, man! Feels good when you know you helped and it's appreciated.

 

All it takes to be homeless is lose your job just when rent is due...and dont have enough money in the bank to cover it.....anyone can be homeless...they have my respect !!

 

i can spot a tweaker from a mile away. i just walk right past them, theyre the ones that dig the holes for themselves. but so many people have these desperate situations that they just dont have control over sometimes,i been there. so i hate it when people get all judgmental about shit they know nothing about

 

I work in Ann Arbor and in the summer there are a lot of homeless people that hang out and panhandle. These people have serious issues...most of them are alcoholics (I'd say 90% of them), the rest are mentally ill...some are mentally ill AND alcoholics...I very rarely give them any money simply because most are mean and rude and harrass people. I can't stand that...I've given homeless people who seem pretty right-minded money before, but working in a co-op we get people coming in and taking advantage of us and our customers. Some of these people we will assist and call someone to help them...especially if they truely ARE having problems...

 

I always give the homeless some money...Even when I'm short on cash myself!They need it more than me.

 

Depends on the vibe I'm getting from them and if I recognize them or not. The ones that live on the streets here are pretty well-fed and the weather is generally mild so I'm less likely to give to them. They already know the good places to sleep and the right restaurants' dumpsters to check, so (for being homeless) they are more at home than say, the person who is just passing through. I'm more likely to give a little to them, instead.

 

i have this little superstition that states the more you give away, the more is returned to you, in one form or another. always seemed to work for me. i can't count the number of times i've been helped out by a stranger. once i had a lady behind me in the grocery store line buy my entire load of groceries when they wouldn't take a check from me and kai was screaming her head off in the cart. we had no food and no way to get cash. she saved my ass. never saw her again. i may not be homeless, but since i kinda know what it's like to need and not have, i'm always willing to give. i've had a jacket stolen right out of my hand by a homeless guy. i didn't even yell "hey."

 

homelessness is a condition that is never more then a few steps away from each and every last one of all of us, however much any of us may wish not to face that reality and deny it, however fortunate in our daily lives we may happen at this or any moment to be.

i've been homeless without begging, though not without sleeping in places others might have prefered me not to. and to avoid having to beg i've had to live in cities where shelters and soup lines existed, and endured the endless brainwashing that is often the price, nothing is after all entirely free, of partaking of such services.

i find begging distasteful and likewise that others do, yet i certainly hold it against no one who finds themselves in an unfamiliar situation they have been up to that point in no way emotionaly or intillectualy prepaired to deal with.

in short a homeless person is more often then not, far less different from yourself then you may have, for many reasons, been led to assume.

there is another thing. those who are homeless as a resault of refusing to contribute to what they see as harmfull, destructive, and contributing to suffering of all sorts, are, in any rational evaluation, heros. REAL heros. and ought to be honored and recognized as such.

if there were no building codes, fences, and there were places where it would always be lawful and welcome to 'pitch your tent', there would be no homelessness.

if the bounty of nature and the understanding of it, were accessable to all, and there were few enough of our species to be sustained by it, there would be no hunger.

it is the same way of life that has made homelessness unsightly that is also to blame for creating it as a relative condition. so instead of scapegoating mental deficiencies and substance addiction as we so often are encouraged to do, i bit of rethinking on all our parts could redily avoid creating the conditions that the homeless have to face, that indeed homelessness is.

=^^=
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I tell them get a job or just ignore and walk away.

Like, if they get any job they will make more money than begging.

 

Without a home, it's very hard to get a job...unless you have an address, getting a job is virtually impossible.

And also, if you want to get technical, you can make more money panhandling than you can in a job. I've panhandled and made 60 bucks in two hours...and there was a news show that showed a panhandler making about 20 dollars an hour...

Without a college education, I don't know many people that make 20 bucks in an hour.