Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Offer food to vagrant in my area and he will throw it into the street and curse you. They want money for drugs.
Here in San Francisco, land of the disgusting aggressive hobos with libbie-fuelled entitlement complexes (for the slow, please note that this is sarcasm), I give food to homeless people all the time and most are gracious in accepting it. I like to give them bananas because they're filling, nutritious, promote a good mood, and easy on the teeth (sadly an issue with many of them).
I've seen what happens when people feed wild animals that should be able to fend for themselves as their nature dictates. They congregate on the person feeding them, become aggressive demanding food, the dependant population becomes larger and larger, and they crap all over the place. Worse, disease becomes rampant in the population, any plants are overgrazed/browsed and destroyed to the point that the place where this happens becomes unusable and dangerous.
I've been to Skid Row in LA-where precisely the same thing happens with human beings. Enabling the homeless, with a few exceptions, does them no good-in fact precisely the opposite. They learn NOT go go elsewhere where they might be able to find an affordable place to live, to get a job, to BE human beings. Instead they learn that they can be useless, fry their brains and bodies on drugs, and still get handouts and a place to live.
"Just get a job"
That's not an easy thing for most people even in ideal circumstances.
You're really going to expect someone to do that who has no place to rest, no decent clothes to interview in, no mobile phone, no reliable internet access, no computer, no means to print their resume, no phone number, no permanent address, etc.
Why not go up to someone in a wheelchair, give them a good kick, and bark at them to go run a marathon while you're at it.
Rather than dehumanizing people who were dealt a much worse hand than you, why not be grateful for what you've been blessed with and not throw a hissy fit that people can actually choose to (god forbid) help others in need if they want to.
Freedom of association. Freedom of voluntary exchanges.
I got it at birth. Didn't need a fictional entity to rule on it.
F the State.
Yeah, I agree, people SHOULD have chosen to simply not comply with this law when it was in effect. Thats our duty as Americans, we should never ever obey or comply with an unconstitutional law.
That's not an easy thing for most people even in ideal circumstances.
You're really going to expect someone to do that who has no place to rest, no decent clothes to interview in, no mobile phone, no reliable internet access, no computer, no means to print their resume, no phone number, no permanent address, etc.
Why not go up to someone in a wheelchair, give them a good kick, and bark at them to go run a marathon while you're at it.
Rather than dehumanizing people who were dealt a much worse hand than you, why not be grateful for what you've been blessed with and not throw a hissy fit that people can actually choose to (god forbid) help others in need if they want to.
Offer food to vagrant in my area and he will throw it into the street and curse you. They want money for drugs.
I have given food to homeless people, and have never had this happen. One time especially stands out in my mind. I went into a store, a Big Lots, I think it was, and on my way in, I noticed a man with a backpack and sleeping roll sitting on a nearby sidewalk with his dog. He had a regular little campsite where he stayed, and was just resting on his way back there. It was a very hot day, and I could see that he and the dog were both suffering, and was particularly worried about the dog's heavy panting. When I finished my own shopping, I bought some things for him: food he could eat without much preparation, like bread and tuna and peanut butter, a couple gallons of water, and a bag of food and bowl so his dog could have a drink, too. I sat down on the pavement with him and we talked for a while. He asked how I knew what kind of things he could use - had I once lived on the street? I told him no, I just got things that made sense to me for a person with no kitchen. He was very grateful for the food and water, and that my concern for him extended to his best friend, but I think most of all he was happy to have someone recognize his humanity.
I’ve never had a homeless person reject my gifts either. The young family I gifted a bag of groceries once still haunts me. I need a job, he said, panic and pain in his voice. I would give you one if I had one, I said. A totally inadequate response.
Many homeless are 'services resistant.' They like living on the street, panhandling, no responsibilities, hanging out and drinking with their friends. This type of person has been around forever. They used to be called hoboes.
The mentally ill are a different case. They need to be locked up for their own and the public's safety
Many homeless are 'services resistant.' They like living on the street, panhandling, no responsibilities, hanging out and drinking with their friends. This type of person has been around forever. They used to be called hoboes.
The mentally ill are a different case. They need to be locked up for their own and the public's safety
“People say, ‘Well, you chose to become homeless.’ But that’s wrong,” he says. Huck says he’s been a hobo for upward of 11 years and started hopping trains and hitching rides at 18. “I did not choose to become homeless. If you want to say I chose to become homeless and sleep on the streets, really all I have to say is f--k you. You’ve never experienced it.”
And yet I was in a hurry, and it wasn’t because I hate my home, or my family. It was just the itch. You know the itch. You wake up every day in a climate-controlled box, then you get into another box to go to work, then you sit in a third box all day just so you can afford bigger boxes and fancy crap to put in those boxes. Somewhere inside all those boxes, you get the itch to blow it all up. Leave everything behind. Live in the m-f--kin’ moment. Like Kerouac did, or Cheryl Strayed, or those people in those Expedia ads.
There is a video at the end of the article on the page:
"Homeless in New York: The Other Millennials"
I found another interesting piece on Hobos Still Riding the Rails: Life as a Modern Hobo
Quote:
The Original Hobos
Very few people ride the rails full-time nowadays. In an ABC News story from 2000, the president of the National Hobo Association put the figure at 20-30, allowing that another 2,000 might ride part-time or for recreation.
That's a far cry from what it used to be. The very first American hobos were cast-offs from the American Civil War of the 1860s. When many soldiers returned home, jobs were scarce, so hordes of young men took to the newly built railroads to find their fortunes elsewhere. The name hobo is believed to be a shortened form of “hoe boy.” The original hobos traveled from town to town looking for odd jobs and menial farm work.
Last edited by Ellis Bell; 08-29-2018 at 04:41 PM..
Reason: add link
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
