I feel the same. I usually give some loose change, but I realise that that doesn’t really solve anything. The injustice is systemic and so deep-rooted that most people barely bat an eye-lid—it’s just accepted as normal.

In different circumstances, and perhaps even in my own future if things go terribly wrong, I could be that beggar.

I have been that begger. It is a tough circle to get out of. Try finding a job without a phone or address or clean clothes. Your day is spent finding food money and very little time is left for anything else. So even 15 cents gets you closer to a 99 cent burger at Carls Jr.

“So that’s what happened to Mark Hamill.”

@johnpowell I’m sorry to hear that. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you break the circle? And what did you think about people passing you?

@tups :: My sister found me after some searching. I had pretty much disappeared for three months. I was in Eugene and she was living in Bend about 120 miles away. She picked me up and took me to Bend (they had a spare room) and she got me a bike and clothes and a haircut.

A few weeks later I had a good job and two months later moved out.

edit :: Here is the funny part, when you ask for money it is actually best to ask poor people. The dude in a suit just tells you to fuck off. And people passing isn’t really something that bothers you. It is like working in a call center.

Sad and guilty.

@johnpowell I’m glad to hear it worked out for you.

I could imagine that the suits would act the way, I don’t mean to generalize but they’re usually not the most socialistic kind.

@tups :: here is another fun fact. I got 164 a month in food stamps. Which actually wasn’t all that bad if I had a kitchen. But you run into a huge problem. I didn’t have a place to cook rice and beans. Sandwiches were also out of the question due to not being able to refrigerate meat and cheese.

It is just a thousand layers of fucked.

This has been tough for me, too. I used to give change a lot, but recently I haven’t because of people who have been saying that they just spend it on drugs or alcohol. It’s hard deciding to give money or not.

I had a time like @johnpowell, in the same geographical area. I ended up stealing food for a solid year. ( I was never caught). I usually gave to beggars when I got out of that life. I am home now and hardly ever see beggars, at least not to the astonishing and sobering degree that I did in the Pacific Northwest.

It bothers me. It is hard for me to recognize the really needy from the scams.

To relate one story. About 15 years ago we got off the London underground at a certain station. On the way up and out there was a beggar sitting on one of the stair landings, dirty, ragged and wrapped up in a beat-up sleeping bag with his hat on the ground in front of him begging for change. I dropped a little into his hat.
Three hours later we re-entered the underground at the same station and there in the same place, wrapped in the same dirty sleeping bag and with the same beat up hat was a different person, still as pitiful looking, asking for change. I passed him by.

I would be interested to know if those of you who have been in this situation can tell real need from someone looking for an easy mark

My first reaction is trying to gauge whether the person is in legitimate need (as johnpowell was), or if they might actually be “working” a tax-free “job” which “earns” them more money than I make. It’s sad, because those pretending to be destitute make street-begging so much more difficult for the people who are actually in trouble.

A few days ago, outside a drugstore in Brooklyn a young, fit-looking guy approached us asking for money. I wondered how much all of the tattoos covering his arms and legs cost him and thought….

“Nah…”

@OneBadApple :: That is a reasonable response. I see someone digging through our dumpster multiple time a day. I figure that they need real help so I kick them a few bucks.

And to be perfectly honest some of my motivation is that I don’t want to be mugged again.

Having been there, I will say that I will not go hungry. I will stab you in the back and take your wallet before I starve. This isn’t Ethiopia, there is food and I will kill to get it before I die from hunger.

Who the hell knows what they’ve been through. When I see one, I help them out.

@johnpowell All due respect, since you have been there and I haven’t. I think it’s fair to say though that the majority of people (in the U.S, at least) are just living-out their past decisions.

And if the time ever comes, kill me if you think you must. But my choice would be to die from starvation as opposed to even considering murdering someone else….

Hunger is way too slow a death. I’m with John on this one.

If I’m with my husband, we usually kick what we can to beggars.

There are a couple of local homeless guys we invite over for meals and let them get a shower. We’ll give them a ride to the food pantry. Since the hubs and I are both unemployed now, he’s been driving one of them around with his lawn mower scrounging up work. Sometimes they even crash on our couch, since it’s so damned hot outside in the summer.

Being poor sucks.

Seek Kolinahr, what you and Mr. Seek do for these guys is truly wonderful, very rarely done, and quite impressive. And I don’t know you, but love you both for it.

However, the fact that you might kill one of them if it came down to it is a little…..disturbing….

shrug

I’m a heartbeat away from being that guy. I hope if I am in that situation again that someone would cook me a hot meal and give my son a roof to sleep under.

I usually feel sad for them and I feel guilty when I don’t have a little bit of change to give them. I don’t tend to be cynical about homeless people like some people are because, like @Seek_Kolinahr said, that could easily be me and that scares me.

I haven’t seen many beggers in my life, but a few months back Rick and I were at a convenience store in another town, and some very old man was digging around in the trash for cans. He didn’t accost anyone, didn’t ask anyone for money, but several people (including ourselves) gave him money.
I see that and I think, “Where the hell is his family?” However, I also realize he may have rejected his family too.

I go with my gut. Usually, if I’m on foot and am solicited, I will talk to the person, find their story, and if the story sounds valid I’ll help out if I can. Sometimes, if the story sounds like BS, I might still contribute if there is an amount of creativity.

Hmm…..contribute anyway for “creative BS”.

I never thought of it that way…..but I like it….

I don’t know. It depends where I am. If I’m in the city and I have some spare money on me I’ll buy some food for people but I never give them money. I had a really hard time feeling bad for people who were homeless in Central America(away from cities). The reason I say this is because different from how it is around here. In that I mean you can’t walk for more than 5 minutes without coming across some kind of tree that bares food. It’s also not like here where as @johnpowell said with finding a job. You really don’t need all that stuff, you just need to be willing to work. What all this boiled down to was that anyone I encountered that did live on the streets was just incredibly lazy or a complete alcoholic. It makes it rather hard to justify giving to someone like that.

@Dutchess_III When I see that I think “Where the hell is society?”.

I always help when I can, but I haven’t seen a beggar in over a decade. I’ve had to beg before. It sucks.

@tups I agree, but if a person refuses to stay in a shelter, what do you do?

@jonsblond I’m sorry to that you’ve had to to that. How have you not seen a beggar in a decade?

@ucme Mark Hamil is also the best Joker ever :P

@uberbatman As well as being Harrison Ford’s chief arse wiper :P

I can’t look through them, and my heart hurts, even though I know some are scammers with more money than me. Especially when they use kids and dogs to get money, just can’t turn away and feel okay with that.

@Dutchess_III :: I have stayed in shelters. You can’t stay there forever. The one in Las Vegas I stayed at we could only stay four nights per month. I was 15 years old too.

@johnpowell Did you ever spend time in that underground tunnel that’s under the Las Vegas strip?

@tups I live in the country. The population for our entire county is under 33,000. The largest city is only 20,000 in population and it’s a college town. We don’t have beggars here.

Am I supposed to feel any particular way? I figure if I have some money/food, I’ll give it. Sometimes, I reflect on how the government is at fault in so many ways for homelessness. This week, when I see ‘beggars,’ I think of our asshole mayor Bloomberg and how it is now not allowed to donate food to shelters because it may not be nutritious. God, I hate him.

Hubby took the guys to the food pantry today. I picked up some discounted almost-expired meat, to add to what they got, and crooked dinner for everyone. One person crashing here tonight.

Stuffed pita sandwiches and iced tea, a shower and a season of Breaking Bad on DVD. The things we take for granted.

I fell that society if hopeless unless it takes care of everyone.
I acknowledge by looking into there eyes and give whenever I can.
One day we could very well be in that state ourselves.
At one time I considered joining the Red Cross Society to train and assist such people in crises.
( I was too old to join by then).

In Europe it depends on the country. I’m careful to judge in Greece or Romania.

In Germany no one has to beg, but some still do, sometimes because they are ashamed of approaching services that could actually help them.

In India, there’s a mafia behind it. When you donate money, the mafia will maim even more women and children to make them look helpless. Donating money endangers people.

This is exactly how I feel (skip to 1:25, it’s hilarious)