![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Give a bum $10
Feb. 15th, 2006 12:46 amI just had this idea. It's really a policy. "Give a bum ten bucks. " This was brought on by my friend J. It my sitcomverse, J. is the hyperactive, sexually frustrated galpal who always has an outlandish misadventure to relate to go along with every occasion.
This time, J was out for an evening stroll with her cute newlywed hubby M in the seedy part of Philomath. That's not very difficult, a large part of Philomath happens to be seedy. They came upon a couple panhandling near a bar. J gave them $20.00.
I know what you might be thinking. So did J. She said, "Yeah, you know they were just going into the bar and drink. You have to remember, I grew up poor. Poor people deserve to go out and have fun once in awhile."
J. is as liberal as they come. She may have grown up in a town so small you could connect with one Airport, but she harbors no small-mindedness. I grew up in a liberal middle class family. It was all about social engineering. Helping people in poverty. I never got this lesson quite so clearly stated. Listen closely -- it's part of the problem.
We can't just provide the bare essentials. "Poor people deserve to go out and have fun once in awhile"
So, you give a bum $10.00. At least. Enough to buy more than a little bit. Maybe a few beers and a burger. Live it up. Whatever he wants. Splurge, make it $20.00. Besides, my friend J. continued, it's fun to think of all the yuppies in there that are disgusted to see poor people in the bar!"
Be assured that the money you give will go straight into a local small business -- the bar - and get back at the ones gentryfying the neighborhood? That sounds promising.
Save that, I'm assuming that the panhandling is always an alcoholic. I'm calling him a bum. I don't know his circumstances, really. He may be six or eight months beyond his last paycheck and looking for work. He may be mentally ill, suffering from the lack of adequate services for the indigent.
In which case, he could use $10.00
Who the hell am I to ask why?
This time, J was out for an evening stroll with her cute newlywed hubby M in the seedy part of Philomath. That's not very difficult, a large part of Philomath happens to be seedy. They came upon a couple panhandling near a bar. J gave them $20.00.
I know what you might be thinking. So did J. She said, "Yeah, you know they were just going into the bar and drink. You have to remember, I grew up poor. Poor people deserve to go out and have fun once in awhile."
J. is as liberal as they come. She may have grown up in a town so small you could connect with one Airport, but she harbors no small-mindedness. I grew up in a liberal middle class family. It was all about social engineering. Helping people in poverty. I never got this lesson quite so clearly stated. Listen closely -- it's part of the problem.
We can't just provide the bare essentials. "Poor people deserve to go out and have fun once in awhile"
So, you give a bum $10.00. At least. Enough to buy more than a little bit. Maybe a few beers and a burger. Live it up. Whatever he wants. Splurge, make it $20.00. Besides, my friend J. continued, it's fun to think of all the yuppies in there that are disgusted to see poor people in the bar!"
Be assured that the money you give will go straight into a local small business -- the bar - and get back at the ones gentryfying the neighborhood? That sounds promising.
Save that, I'm assuming that the panhandling is always an alcoholic. I'm calling him a bum. I don't know his circumstances, really. He may be six or eight months beyond his last paycheck and looking for work. He may be mentally ill, suffering from the lack of adequate services for the indigent.
In which case, he could use $10.00
Who the hell am I to ask why?
