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TexasMadness
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Location: Austin, Texas
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Panhandling
I've heard several times that Austin has a really large homeless population compared to other cities. I tried to find some statistics, but I guess the homeless are probably pretty hard to keep track of.
Anyway, seeing a panhandler on the side of the road is like seeing a tree in the forest in this city. I walk by a homeless camp on my way to work that probably has 5-10 people depending on season and how recently the cops have run them off (they are on private property). So it's something that I'm used to seeing all the time.
My husband is not so used to seeing it. He is uncomfortable when we are stopped at a light and there's a person begging for money. I hardly even notice but he gets agitated and stares intently ahead - afraid to make eye contact. Not because he is afraid the person is dangerous, but because he feels terrible for "ignoring" them. I guess that made me wonder if I was losing my ability to empathize.
I've thought about it for the last few days and I most certainly have not lost my empathy for such people. I just don't condone the actual act of panhandling. This city has enormous resources for helping the homeless. It's not that I think that's the only way to get back on your feet, but I sometimes feel like it's easier to panhandle - I've heard you can get a lot of money doing it! And it's not a sustainable "career" choice. Maybe if the person just needs a few bucks to get started it would be ok. But I se the same people for YEARS panhandling in the same spots. They aren't doing anything with the money to move forward. Not to say that everyone is like that, but how can you tell the difference? You can't.
My mom used to carry granola bars in her car to give to panhandlers. One day she happened to look back and saw the person toss the food out into traffic. She "ignores" panhandlers too now.
But I do give in other ways. I usually volunteer at a soup kitchen a few times a year (they changed the rules and I have to go to an ALL DAY orientation to get back on the volunteer list so I haven't done it in a year) and we've been looking into doing 'adopt a family' at Christmas again (we did this when I was a kid). I also buy the Austin Advocate from guys selling it on the street - it's a newspaper written, edited and published by homeless or previously homeless folks in Austin. Homeless then sell it on the street for $0.50. It's really good actually.
Ok, I'm rambling now. Just wondering what your feelings are on panhandling. The city almost banned it last year, so it's been on my mind for awhile.
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12/12/2008, 3:49 pm
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muladzh
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Re: Panhandling
I have no sympathy at all for beggers - most of the ones I have met are richer than I am.
---
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12/12/2008, 11:48 pm
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playfultree
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Location: Kentucky
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Re: Panhandling
I am split on this one, I spent a time when I was in my twenty's my husband ran off left me with two kids. I had a job but finding affordable daycare, and enough money to make ends meet forced me to apply for food stamps and assistance. I was told by lawyers it was easier to quit work and live on welfare than force my ex to pay child support.
After spending just 12 months getting assistance so I could go to school to get a better job I understand why people prefer to panhandle.
I was treated as if I was not even a person. They beat people down and you have to beg more and degrade yourself more to get help from the system then begging on the street.
I watched a woman with three childern lose it one afternoon in the office her job had been lost in down sizing her husband was out of state looking for work and their home had burned to the ground. The worker did not like her attitude and threw all her paper work away after she left the office. He proudly annouced to all of us that she would wait another month now and maybe she'd be greatful.
I stood up and an elder man yanked me down and this is a quote " baby you open your mouth and you go on the list and then you get nothing ever."
I always wonder what the story is behind why they are on the street. Has the system just beat them down, have they lost so much they just no longer want anything but a corner of ground to sleep on. I know some are just scheme/scam I have met them this year at the grocery the "Mamam am out of gas and need to get home" but when I can spare it I give them a dollar or two. I figure if they are scamming me then Karma will get them in the end.
I like to see the best in people which I know is in this day and age is stupid.
But if by stupidness I help one person in my lifetime then I have done a little good.
---
Love and Light
tree
May your journey be full of happiness and blessings
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12/13/2008, 3:04 pm
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Saijen SilverWolf
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Location: Upper North East Tennessee
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Re: Panhandling
playfultree wrote:
I like to see the best in people which I know is in this day and age is stupid.
No, it is not stupid, in any shape, fashion or form, playful! Never think that trying to see the best in people is stupid. Just know to follow your heart, and your gut.
Ok....as another here who has had to be on foodstamps and such at one time, I can also see how some people need the cash, but, I also know there are resources out there if people would just look.
I am used to seeing panhandlers here at the Walmart needing money to get home or whatever. I rarely give money to them. If they need food, I have gone to the McDonald's across the road and gotten a meal and given to them. Most are grateful for that, but, many just want the money. Money buys drugs or booze...a combo meal doesn't.
There are a lot of honest people out there that simply don't know where to look to find the help they need, but there are that many plus some that are simply too lazy to bother to get the help. Why find a job when you can get kind hearted people to fund you?
It's kind of like the old saying I've heard all my life about premarital sex...why buy the cow when you're getting the milk for free. Same thing could apply here.
I only give monetary help to the Shriners at redlights, or at Walmart entry ways, and similar things that I KNOW are honest.
--- Blessed Be,
~*~ Saijen ~*~
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12/14/2008, 11:54 am
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PerpetuallyCurious
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Re: Panhandling
It bothers me to see them because I am overly empathetic. I wish there was something I could do, but it's so hard figuring out who is there because they choose to be there, and who is there due to circumstances beyond their control.
You don't find very many homeless up here so I haven't given it much thought these last few years.
I wish there was a clear answer but I'm afraid there never will be.
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12/16/2008, 10:15 pm
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Saijen SilverWolf
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Re: Panhandling
PerpetuallyCurious wrote:
I wish there was a clear answer but I'm afraid there never will be.
I have to agree, Curious. I don't think we'll ever know for certain all of the ones that are there by choice or by circumstances.
--- Blessed Be,
~*~ Saijen ~*~
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12/27/2008, 3:47 pm
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Terreson
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Re: Panhandling
I don't know. What a prickly subject and so many sides to it.
When I was a teenager I hitch-hiked to NYC and supported myself panhandling, while sleeping on park benches in Central Park. I didn't have to. It is purely elective, done on a lark and for the adventure. Still, the experience kind of inclined me to a sympathetic attitude for the homeless and panhandlers. On the other hand I've been cheated more than once on the strength of taking hook, line, and sinker the sob story. On the third hand I remember what happened in the eighties when Reagan stopped the flow of federal funding to states' mental health services. Many institutionalized people, including a bunch of schizophrenics, were all across the country put out on the streets. Then there is that our wars tend to produce men who can no longer function, even basicly, and who end up on the streets panhandling. And what about the statistical increase in homeless women and children? Or that the missions around the country have the overflow populations they cannot accomodate?
I don't know. It is just an impossible situation. Panhandlers neither offend or anger me. Nor do they make me nervous. My first thought is along the lines of there but by the grace of the Goddess go I. Yeah. That's the salient for me.
Tere
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2/16/2009, 8:52 pm
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Saijen SilverWolf
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Re: Panhandling
You raise some very valid points, Tere, and I guess, as stated earlier, we'll probably never know the why's of someone panhandling. I just know that around here, in the town I live in, there is more than enough help if someone would just ask. I live in a very small town, and to the best of my knowledge, we don't have any homeless people here. Everyone is taken care of, either on their own, or by the housing. We don't have the Salvation Army here, or any other missions or help centers...they are all in the larger towns to either side of us....we're that small. Our ONE thrift store is Christian operated, and one can always ask there where to get help.
When you panhandled, if you don't mind me asking...if you do, just don't answer the question and I'll be OK with that....but when you panhandled, did you let people know that you were traveling that way, or did you do the cardboard signs that said things such as....'Hungry and alone. Need help', 'Will work for food' (and mean it), 'Car broke down, trying to get home and I'm stuck here',
These are just a few of the signs I've seen here. I guess I'm just curious as to how you presented yourself while you were traveling and if perhaps the way you presented yourself and how some others do is what helped you, and what maybe set you apart from the types of panhandlers we're talking about. I think, to a point, you can trust your gut instinct, but you can also trust what you see.
--- Blessed Be,
~*~ Saijen ~*~
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2/19/2009, 8:36 pm
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TexasMadness
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Location: Austin, Texas
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Re: Panhandling
Saijen, you bring up some interesting points about the signs. There's a guy in south Austin that always has the most hilarious signs. He is a panhandler by occupation. I'm sure he has a house and probably a car. But he gets out on South Lamar and waves funny signs and acts silly and people give him money. He'll have things like "Need fuel for my Leer jet" or "Abducted by aliens and they stole my wallet" (and he wore a tinfoil hat that day). I've actually given him some pocket change. I consider him to be providing a service - a bit of entertainment while I sit at a red light.
Other folks have signs that say things that I KNOW are a lie. I've seen the "will work for food" signs. I know you shouldn't invite people to your house, but I've needed somethings done and I've asked 4 people. No one would come - and they are panhandling less than 4 blocks from my house, so it's not like they don't want to go across town. It's just a ploy. I'm sure there are folks that will work but none of the ones I've asked.
And I see a lot of people that come and go. I'm sure they are traveling like Tere. They usually just have signs that say "need help. God bless", etc.
There's a new panhandler that showed up about a month ago. A young woman (maybe 30) with her leg amputated right below the hip. You gotta wonder what her story is. I've never been in a lane where I could give her anything but I have a feeling I will if the chance arises.
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3/9/2009, 6:56 pm
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Saijen SilverWolf
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Re: Panhandling
I really think how you present yourself makes all the difference in the world in a situation like this.
And I also know there are people out there that have tried to go through the proper system and were let down by it, but in so many cases, it's virtually impossible to tell the mooches from the ones that truly need help because of presentation...either of self or how a sign is worded, or both.
I'm not sure I'd make a good panhandler..lol
--- Blessed Be,
~*~ Saijen ~*~
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3/10/2009, 7:00 pm
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