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A close relative of mine spent 6 months in a homeless shelter when he hit rock bottom on alcoholism and gambling. He actually gained 20 pounds during the process. They eat very well in the shelter.
While there, he saw some people that wanted to improve themselves, and some that lived on the street as a choice. I ate dinner there with him a few times and saw 20 year old guys that simply didn't want to live "in the system"...choosing instead to live as a homeless person going from shelter to shelter.
If a person wants to improve themselves, it's a good thing if we can help them. But not all want it.
Yes but you can't condemn the ones who think improving themselves means not living by a time clock and following orders. They really don't feel like getting strapped with bills and the 8-5. They have their own view of freedom.
I also think beggars serve a purpose. They'll sit in the cold, the wind, the hot sun and people give them money for doing it and then those people feel very good about themselves for it. They might ignore their kids, cheat on their spouse, mistreat co-workers but if they gave a bum a dollar, they will feel great about themselves.
Another way beggars help people is that someone might have a crappy job, they may have a nasty boss, but they pass by a homeless guy asking for money and everything seems worth it because they decide they prefer workplace abuse to living like the homeless guy - and at the same time the homeless guy prefers living free from all that pressure but gets money from the working guy - it all works out in the end.
Are homeless bums worth helping? Today a homeless guy asked if he could have a few drags of my cigarette outside my work. I usually throw the half smoked ones in the puddle for them to dig out . My co-workers think I'm cruel but I think the homeless are lazy degenerates that need to go away. They constantly beg for change when I know they will just go buy drugs or booze with it so I tell them "it's not happening" even before they say anything. Is it mean? Why on earth would one want to help people that don't want to or can't help themselves? I bet 90% of the time they will amount to nothing so what is the point? Survival of the fittest is my motto. Anyone else agree?
Hitler was a dirty homeless person for many years with a good memory.
Back then, he would have had this OP tracked down, remembering the thoughtful gesture, and perhaps had him tortured to no end with lit cigarettes, before entrance into a gas chamber!
Are homeless bums worth helping? Today a homeless guy asked if he could have a few drags of my cigarette outside my work. I usually throw the half smoked ones in the puddle for them to dig out. My co-workers think I'm cruel but I think the homeless are lazy degenerates that need to go away. They constantly beg for change when I know they will just go buy drugs or booze with it so I tell them "it's not happening" even before they say anything. Is it mean? Why on earth would one want to help people that don't want to or can't help themselves? I bet 90% of the time they will amount to nothing so what is the point? Survival of the fittest is my motto. Anyone else agree?
LOLs.
I always found it curious that when seeing a poor person people take it for granted that they may pray AT them. Or stare at them like they are aquarium fish.
I have personally stayed in a homeless shelter, I also previously talked to several bums when I was driving for BNSF railroad. I also talked to someone staying at a shelter before all this, when I was working for a phone book distributing company.
When I worked for the phone book company, my job was to load phone books into private individuals vehicles so they could deliver them to peoples houses. The routes are usually a couple hundred stops each, and it usually took several trips for most vehicles to pick up all of their phone books. And a lot of people sort of underestimate how much work it is, and when bring in their tiny vehicles, and I can only load a fraction of the entire route worth of phone books, they usually just give up on trying to deliver the route. And I could usually tell by talking to people and inspecting their vehicle, whether or not they would actually complete the route.
So this little sedan pulls in, and its full of clothing, a car seat, and some other childrens stuff. So I tell the woman that I won't be able to get many phone books into her car, is there anywhere she could store her stuff until she can complete the route? She says she is living in the shelter, and she can't leave her stuff there, it'll get stolen. So I crammed as many books in as I could. I was expecting the next time I saw her, for her to be returning the books, saying it wasn't worth it. But she stuck it out, took her like five trips, but she delivered the entire route. I was pretty impressed.
Another guy I met when I was working for the railroad, I would drop off crews at this hotel, then have to wait for the next crew to be ready to go. There was a Burger King next door, so I walked over to it, then on my way back there was this guy sitting on a city bus bench, but it was very late and the busses were no longer running. So I was small-talking with him, and he informed me he was a bum that worked that street corner. He told me he lived in a tent in a field not far from there, but told me he owned a house in Ada, Oklahoma(he was Chickasaw Indian). But that he was bored in Ada, and he enjoyed bumming. It was exciting, and he got to talk to a lot of different people. My only issue with him was, he was basically a drunk. He told me there was a liquor store not far from there that knew him very well. That it was basically where he spent the bulk of his money. But he seemed like a pretty happy guy, I remember he had great teeth. I was surprised, I would assume bums to have like one or two teeth, usually in bad shape.
When I was younger, I was staying with my sister in Florida(Tampa area). I got into a fight with her, and so I was walking around Tampa. I had money, but I'm really cheap, so I decided since all I had was myself and a backpack. That I would just stay in a shelter. Probably a bad idea rofl, but an eye-opening one.
To get in you had to be waiting out front at like 7 PM, and you could only stay there for 30 days in a single year. The beds there were basically plastic, and they woke you up and kicked you out at 5 AM. They did provide dinner(was like a big pot of chicken and rice soup, with some dinner rolls). And coffee in the morning. The interesting part is the people that were there, and their backgrounds. There was really three distinct groups of people from what I could tell.
The first group, were the habitual bums, but not necessarily happy about it. They were constantly talking about how they had one job or another in the past, making huge money, and about how they need to get back into it. One of them said they had worked for the railroad, but when I talked to him about the railroad(which I had been working for for several years), he seemed to know absolutely nothing about it. I think the majority of these people had some sort of mental illness, creating their own reality because they couldn't accept their own. The shelter I stayed at, was the Salvation army shelter in Tampa, off Florida ave.
The second group of people, were the down-and-out people. They were generally very quiet, they looked a little beat-down and nervous. I am pretty sure they were only there because they had absolutely no where else to go.
The last group of people, were some of the happiest people I have ever met. They were the bums that were happy to be bums. They felt like it was the pinnacle of freedom. They talked about all the shelters they had stayed at, which ones were best. They talked about sleeping on the beach(gotta watch out though, theres sand fleas), going fishing all the time, which street corners were best. They had traveled across the country, from San Diego all the way to south Florida. Telling of their stories along the way. They hated "the system", they hated the 9-5, they refused to be a part of it.
As for demographics, it was pretty stark. There were probably 100 people that were standing outside of the shelter when they finally opened the doors at about 7 pm. There were only two women, one person in a wheel chair. The majority of the people that were outside of it, couldn't get in, because they had already stayed there for at least 30 days that year. So they slept outside along the wall to the place, and in the adjacent buildings parking lot. Everyone that was sleeping outside, was black. Only about 10% of the people who were staying inside the shelter were black. The vast majority of the people actually sleeping inside of the shelter were white. I don't really remember seeing many hispanics/native-americans, and I didn't see any asians at all.
I would say that the vast majority of the blacks fell into category 1. While whites were mostly in categories 2 and 3. It was very strange.
I'm incredibly cheap, my family is always yelling at me about it. And I'm also not remotely wealthy, so I generally don't like to give people money unless I feel like they actually need it. And the vast majority of bums you see working the street corner, don't really need it. And they just blow it on drugs and alcohol. The people who could really use the help to better themselves, are usually too timid or too proud to actually ask for it.
I have personally stayed in a homeless shelter, I also previously talked to several bums when I was driving for BNSF railroad. I also talked to someone staying at a shelter before all this, when I was working for a phone book distributing company.
When I was younger, I was staying with my sister in Florida(Tampa area). I got into a fight with her, and so I was walking around Tampa. I had money, but I'm really cheap, so I decided since all I had was myself and a backpack. That I would just stay in a shelter. Probably a bad idea rofl, but an eye-opening one.. .
The first group, were the habitual bums, but not necessarily happy about it. They were constantly talking about how they had one job or another in the past, making huge money, and about how they need to get back into it. One of them said they had worked for the railroad, but when I talked to him about the railroad(which I had been working for for several years), he seemed to know absolutely nothing about it. I think the majority of these people had some sort of mental illness, creating their own reality because they couldn't accept their own. The shelter I stayed at, was the Salvation army shelter in Tampa, off Florida ave.
The second group of people, were the down-and-out people. They were generally very quiet, they looked a little beat-down and nervous. I am pretty sure they were only there because they had absolutely no where else to go.
The last group of people, were some of the happiest people I have ever met. They were the bums that were happy to be bums. They felt like it was the pinnacle of freedom. They talked about all the shelters they had stayed at, which ones were best. They talked about sleeping on the beach(gotta watch out though, theres sand fleas), going fishing all the time, which street corners were best. They had traveled across the country, from San Diego all the way to south Florida. Telling of their stories along the way. They hated "the system", they hated the 9-5, they refused to be a part of it.
As for demographics, it was pretty stark. There were probably 100 people that were standing outside of the shelter when they finally opened the doors at about 7 pm. There were only two women, one person in a wheel chair. The majority of the people that were outside of it, couldn't get in, because they had already stayed there for at least 30 days that year. So they slept outside along the wall to the place, and in the adjacent buildings parking lot. Everyone that was sleeping outside, was black. Only about 10% of the people who were staying inside the shelter were black. The vast majority of the people actually sleeping inside of the shelter were white. I don't really remember seeing many hispanics/native-americans, and I didn't see any asians at all.
I would say that the vast majority of the blacks fell into category 1. While whites were mostly in categories 2 and 3. It was very strange.
I'm incredibly cheap, my family is always yelling at me about it. And I'm also not remotely wealthy, so I generally don't like to give people money unless I feel like they actually need it. And the vast majority of bums you see working the street corner, don't really need it. And they just blow it on drugs and alcohol. The people who could really use the help to better themselves, are usually too timid or too proud to actually ask for it.
OMG +1 ! I loved your post! Very enlightening (and entertaining). Very insightful and well written. A nice unbias look into shelter life. Loved your 3 categories and also that you consider yourself "incredibly cheap" etc. I myself find "cheapness" or thriftiness a great quality that most of us in the United States don't have. I can't believe you would go to a homeless shelter rather than get a hotel room or make up with your sister!
Great experience though. You are also a thoughful writer, although your "not remotely wealthy" lol! I bet you will never be poor as you are so careful with money. Thanks again for the great post.
Give to organizations you trust, not to them, directly. The organizations aren't buying them drugs and alcohol and the fake beggars aren't going to the organizations with their scam.
One day when the OP tosses his cigarette into a puddle with that smug, superior grin on his face the “worthless bum” he is taunting, humiliating and degrading will become enraged and lash out in a hostile and violent manner. It's only a matter of time.
One day when the OP tosses his cigarette into a puddle with that smug, superior grin on his face the “worthless bum” he is taunting, humiliating and degrading will become enraged and lash out in a hostile and violent manner. It's only a matter of time.
Is it any better to wish violence on someone with a different (and controversial) opinion than you than it is to maybe seem callous to your fellow man?
And frankly, being the rabid anti-smoker that I am I don't think he actually did a diservice to the person by not feeding him a cancer stick.
I know that is not the point but still.
The OP is being brutally honest regarding his feelings, and they may be harsh. But some of the mean-spirited and threateng replies that wish him harm are just as bad IMO.
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. My co-workers think I'm cruel but I think the homeless are lazy degenerates that need to go away. They constantly beg for change when I know they will just go buy drugs or booze with it so I tell them "it's not happening" even before they say anything. Is it mean? Why on earth would one want to help people that don't want to or can't help themselves? I bet 90% of the time they will amount to nothing so what is the point? Survival of the fittest is my motto. Anyone else agree?
