Posted on 12/23/2017 2:19:33 PM PST by nickcarraway
Who are you to judge what they do with that cash?
Don’t just buy them a sandwich from Pret. They’re not four. They have the right to spend their money as they choose – and it is their money, once given. Don’t just give to people performing, singing, or accompanied by a cute dog. Buskers deserve a wage too, of course. But homeless people are not your dancing monkey and they shouldn’t have to perform to earn your pity.
Don’t second-guess whether people are “really” homeless. Those who think begging is a shortcut to easy money should try humiliating themselves daily in front of thousands of total strangers who won’t even look at them or acknowledge their existence. It is gruelling, soul-destroying work. If people are desperate enough to beg, they need it.
Don’t just give to people who ask you directly, but to the guy with his head in his hands and a Styrofoam cup on the ground in front of him. Give to the woman who’s blind drunk. Give to the guy with meth-rotted teeth. Give to the spice addict who can’t look you in the eye.
Many street beggars are addicts, yes. Do addicts not deserve food? Wouldn’t you want to drink if you were in their position? Don’t you get drunk every weekend to cope with work stress anyway? Who are you to tell them what to do with their bodies?
As the founder of User Voice, a charity led and staffed by former homeless addicts, says: “If your money funds the final hit, accept that the person would rather be dead. If your act of kindness makes him wake up the next morning and decide to change his life, that’s nice but not your business either.”
Of course, it is true that your drinking habit and theirs are fundamentally different. Addiction is rooted in material circumstance – alcohol is the obvious example, but think how many skiing accidents end in courses of opiates far stronger than anything you’d find on the street without any long-term compulsion developing. It can only be tackled by raising people out of poverty, and a brute-force severing of cash flow is not going to starve people into seeking help from authorities they know will not, or cannot, help them.
Yet this abject morality, which says we must push people to rock bottom before we are able to help them, is seized on by austerity governments always greedy to do less. In fact, studies show begging emerges in the “middle-late stages” of homelessness, once people have already exhausted other options. The rock bottom has already been reached.
Eighty per cent of homeless people in the UK experienced no support or advice the last time they were moved on by police or council workers. When the government claims that most people begging on the street are refusing better help, what they mean is the help on offer is not adequate.
Homeless people need free, state-provided housing and fully-funded psychological care. What they get is £538m annual cuts to mental health services and austerity measures driving them into arrears with private landlords and on to the street.
The average life expectancy of a homeless man in London is 47. For women, it is 43. This is lower than the general life expectancy of any nation on the planet. These lives will be improved by systemic, not loose, change.
In the absence of an adequate government response, charitable giving and hostels remain lifesavers to many thousands of people. But big homelessness charities are already receiving millions yearly, while those deemed impossible to help die outside. When I speak to rough sleepers, it is local communities, squatters and grassroots organisations like the London-wide Streets Kitchen which they credit with keeping them alive.
“There is no need to beg on the streets in 2017,” leading London homelessness charity Thames Reach claims. “Hostel rent is covered through Housing Benefit [and] it is an urban myth that if you have no address, you cannot claim benefits.”
The charity, which is primarily funded by the government, makes no mention of the many gatekeeping barriers vulnerable people must cross to secure benefits and a stable hostel place.
Most damningly, they do not mention the fact that the foreign nationals who make up over half of London’s rough-sleeping population cannot claim benefits to access the hostel network at all. Rather, Thames Reach and other top charities shop homeless foreigners to the Home Office to be deported.
It is those same government-funded charities that push the narrative that “kindness kills” as they tout for your donations. Do not believe them. Apathy and austerity kill. Your kindness saves lives.
“I can do something via Paypal.”
I’m not the one in need, ex91B10 is...
Enablers. Sensible people know that any support for their lifestyle brings them further from recovery and closer to death.
Usually because the charitable agencies require them not to drink.
And enable addictions? No thanks.
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>> “I bet the person who wrote this supports importing more Muslims.” <<
No! - They support obeying the words of Yeshua: “Feed my sheep!”
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Yeshua never mentioned “substance abuse issues.”
He just said “Feed my sheep.”
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The people that came here during the Obama era just don't seem to understand.
Mark 12:
28] And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
[29] And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
[30] And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
[31] And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
[32] And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
[33] And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
[34] And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
Stop.
I don’t need this leftist author (leading supporter of Open Britain....ANTI-Brexit, PRO EU), NOR you, to tell me what to do or DON’T do. Who to provide for, and when. Which charities to donate to, or not.
Oh, and you can also take your ‘the people that came here...’ carp and dispose of that, as well.
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Nothing wise, nor new from your corner!
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Same for YOURS!
EVER!
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(What REALLY belongs between the two dots, of your posts.)
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Padded cell to you!
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Keep up your love of leftist mush. Nothing new, under the sun.
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(Now, go away!)
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I’m enjoying your head banging immensely!
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I think this is a good post and, like you said, is a good FReeper conversation.
We all have different experiences from all over. In Colorado, there was an influx of bums when pot became legal.
I’ve traveled around a bit. The most unworthy I’ve seen are the ones near the pot stores, and in Tampa Florida where they actually wear safety vests (orange/day-glo) on the medians.
Locally, the ones outside wally world are the worst. But...
I’ve had several over the past couple years at the stoplight on the way to work at a military base catching the morning and afternoon commutes.
I stop and chat and get to know them while I’m waiting at the light.
Ray was the first. I might have given him a buck or two initially. Then we got to chatting. When he talked about having to use his riding lawn mower on his property...boy that was interesting. Then I figured out which car was his at the no-tell mo-tel next door. Because the car was always there when he was. Nice. Brand new white cross-over of some label that I can’t afford. I called him out on it and he went away.
John was the next. John lives under an overpass. Says if he can stay dry he’ll stay warm. I was a little worried about him a couple Decembers ago when the temps were 0 or below. John doesn’t really even beg. He’s just there and if you want to throw him a buck or two he’s grateful. He picks up trash around the whole intersection and just kind of hangs out. But he just seems to like living rough. He adopted a little stray dog he calls “Hershey”. (no, he doesn’t feed her chocolate). John’s a good guy, not into drugs or anything. He just likes to live free.
Next one is Joshua. He’s around the same area but I don’t think he’ll be long. Probably a meth head or something. Talks about taking care of his wife. She’s probably more of a meth head than he is. We’ll see.
John has a sense of humour. He used to stand with a sign that simply said “God Bless”. How can you go wrong with that? Then, last Fall, he started holding a sign that said “The End is Near”. I asked him about it.
He said, “This is my Halloween costume. Freaks people out”.
That got him five bucks from me. I guess out on the coasts five bucks isn’t much, but here in the heartland, it’s a lot. It’s a meal.
I guess my point is that I’ll get to know someone before I give them my money, or my help.
I’m not sure about Josh yet. We’ll see. I hope his wife is okay.
I guess I need to go there tomorrow and see what I can do.
I always remember Hebrews 13:2 “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
God bless everyone.
Reads like satire.....I occasionally give cash but usually purchase food instead. If someone says they are out of gas and need money for it, I am just as likely to pump it into their tank/gas can myself.
A long day on the road for a lot of pointless travel left me sort of brain dead last night.
Try living in my neighborhood.
I give to Christian organizations that directly service the homeless. They have protocol s in place to manage this appropriately.
There is no more horrible feeling than when you have given money to someone and you then realize they will spend it on booze or drugs.
Precisely.
‘Pod
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