Today I saw something that made me really wish I had my camera. Two guys with signs, one of whom was begging while the other was holding a sign advertising "workers needed, call this number" They were kitty corner...
The bums I've seen panhandling get free food, free healthcare, free lodging, plus a tax-free, better-than-minimum-wage income. Golly....their only complaint is that they get slowed down due to the number of illegal aliens in line. A great man once said, "free just means that someone else is paying for it." I know.....let's try to hire one of the "will work for food" guys, get their SSS#, steal their i.d., and ruin THEIR credit! Oops, guess that won't work.
About two years ago I was sitting at a red light in McAllen, Texas. On my side of the intersection was a begger going from car to car trying to bum money. At the intersection to my right was a guy selling newspapers. He had a heavy looking bag slung over his shoulder and across his chest. This guy was missing a leg and had a crutch tucked under his arm for support on that side of his body! If I could have made my way over there, I would've bought 10 papers just for his effort.
Back in the late 80s, I helped my sister with a sociology project in Santa Barbara, California, a favored town of the mobile homeless. Over four weeks of hanging with the homeless at the park, on the beach, and walking the streets, I learned a lot about them.
The largest group among them were the pickled-brain alcoholics. Folks so constantly drunk they couldn't function without some level of alcohol in their bloodstream. Then the voluntarily "homeless"... those folks that we'd have called hobos in an earlier age. Among this number I include the fakes, the "homeless" with homes, cars, you name it. They're considered homeless by virtue of the fact that they dress raggedy and mooch on streetcorners all day. Then came the disfunctionally insane. Finally your broken home runaways, misfortune victims and other types that everyone seems to assume constitute the majority of the street residents.
The problem seems to be that the really numerous groups have a vested interest in appearing to be the last, smallest group.
This fall my daughter was driving home from our local community college, and as she came down the hill toward the stop light, she saw two guys with signs. Her first reaction was, "I wonder what they're protesting *this* time??"
As she got to the light she was finally able to read the signs and marveled to see:
Guy #1, dressed as homeless guy, sign reading (something like): Will work for food. Please help. God Bless.
Guy #2, standing right behind him, dressed in a store manager's outfit from the Albertson's across the street, sign reading: Help Wanted. Apply at Albertson's.
5 comments:
The bums I've seen panhandling get free food, free healthcare, free lodging, plus a tax-free, better-than-minimum-wage income. Golly....their only complaint is that they get slowed down due to the number of illegal aliens in line. A great man once said, "free just means that someone else is paying for it."
I know.....let's try to hire one of the "will work for food" guys, get their SSS#, steal their i.d., and ruin THEIR credit! Oops, guess that won't work.
daniel - that's really fascinating!
bear - wonderful idea.
About two years ago I was sitting at a red light in McAllen, Texas. On my side of the intersection was a begger going from car to car trying to bum money. At the intersection to my right was a guy selling newspapers. He had a heavy looking bag slung over his shoulder and across his chest. This guy was missing a leg and had a crutch tucked under his arm for support on that side of his body! If I could have made my way over there, I would've bought 10 papers just for his effort.
Back in the late 80s, I helped my sister with a sociology project in Santa Barbara, California, a favored town of the mobile homeless. Over four weeks of hanging with the homeless at the park, on the beach, and walking the streets, I learned a lot about them.
The largest group among them were the pickled-brain alcoholics. Folks so constantly drunk they couldn't function without some level of alcohol in their bloodstream. Then the voluntarily "homeless"... those folks that we'd have called hobos in an earlier age. Among this number I include the fakes, the "homeless" with homes, cars, you name it. They're considered homeless by virtue of the fact that they dress raggedy and mooch on streetcorners all day. Then came the disfunctionally insane. Finally your broken home runaways, misfortune victims and other types that everyone seems to assume constitute the majority of the street residents.
The problem seems to be that the really numerous groups have a vested interest in appearing to be the last, smallest group.
This fall my daughter was driving home from our local community college, and as she came down the hill toward the stop light, she saw two guys with signs. Her first reaction was, "I wonder what they're protesting *this* time??"
As she got to the light she was finally able to read the signs and marveled to see:
Guy #1, dressed as homeless guy, sign reading (something like): Will work for food. Please help. God Bless.
Guy #2, standing right behind him, dressed in a store manager's outfit from the Albertson's across the street, sign reading: Help Wanted. Apply at Albertson's.
Only in Oregon ..... sigh
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