They are ALL forms of handouts.

Why should they work? They get food given to them so they don’t need money to buy food. They are provided clothing so they don’t need money to buy new clothes.

Money is not the only form of “pay”.

What is the incentive for them to get up and fight to better their situation?

Listen, I used to be homeless. I lapped up each and every handout that came my way. I kept this going for just under a year. Some guy came up to me at some point and asked me, “Why do you choose to be homeless?” and then immediately walked off without waiting for my response.

My reaction? Anger, of course. Why would I CHOOSE to be homeless? It was something that happened to me that was completely out of my control and I was stuck this way. “Who is this audacious …. to patronize me like that? I bet he had it easy all his life. Spoiled brat got everything given to him…” etc (leaving vulgar language out of this blog
Couple of days later (after anger had cooled down), I remembered what he said and thought, “Wait a minute, AM I choosing to in this position? Have I been looking for a job? Have I been working hard to try to change something about my situation?”

It dawned on me that I was content with what was given to me (for FREE - no effort on my part) in an abstract way and that kept me there. From then on, I worked as hard as my energy allowed me, putting 40-60 hours a week into looking for a job - ANY job. You would be surprised how many jobs I applied for. Anyway, eventually I got a cleaning job at a restaurant seriously short of staff. They only accepted me because I said I was willing to take much less pay than they were advertising. The boss even let me take a shower at his place to clean up my presentation!

You know what? I’m making this too long. To cut a long story short, I got hired and fired dozens of times but kept working and building my money because I NEEDED it for food, shelter and clothing and I had to WORK for it (i told myself that anyway… I refused to be drawn back to my old ways). I eventually could afford to rent a dump of a place to live. And further on in my life the bank decided to provide this former bum with a mortgage and I now own a reasonably impressive house with the mortgage half paid off, earning a more than modest wage. Coming up to aged 33 - that was 5 and a half eventful years of my life.

Whenever a homeless person asks me for money, food or whatever, I offer them advice instead. Only advice. Most of them are not interested because, in some way or another, they are SATISFIED by where they are. However miserable and worse off they seem, they don’t want to change it (on some level). It’s not that they wouldn’t want things to change - they would just want more things to be given to them for free!

I hope somebody reads and considers this post because I may have made it too long.

WD

Thanks for your post on the different types, and enabling compassion. Often people want to help, but go the wrong way about it, this helps clearing that up. Best of luck with your Masters.

Peace,

Wade

Pretty scary. So, I see your point. And I admire your objective of “teaching people to fish,” as they say.

But, I am a sucker. Especially for women. You never know if they really need it and a few dollars does not make any difference in my life. They may really need that “carfare” they speak of.

Almost any woman you talk to will tell you her greatest fear is ending up as a “bag lady!” At the end of the money there will be life left!

Some people make a business of being homless to beg money, because we as a society allow it. Perhaps it is our culture.

A few months ago my wife and I were fortunate enough to visit Paris. We would encounter street people from one of the slavic countries with a note in hand asking everyone they saw, “English? English?” If you responded, they thrust a note written in english in your hand explaining how tragic their life was and asked for money.

Why did they only target english speakers? I think its because our culture makes us more sympathetic.

Our own, “will work for food” sign bearers captialize on that because they know people who stop will not offer them a job, but merely hand them money.