Originally posted by Exuberant1
Give Money, food, water and/or matches - not seeds and a frigging magnifying glass.
There you go! Give him a dollar. He might not even be homeless for all you know, get humself some form of drugs. Give him a can of food and he can
eat... once, and feel "needy" both during and after the encounter. One time, exiting a grocery store, a
beggar hit me up. I went to give him
a can a tuna from my stuff, and he rudely commented about not having a can opener, whats he gonna do with it. He didn't have a basic tool for
survival. I guess I would have been crass to go in and buy him one? (I would have were he not a jerk, not even homeless for all I know just some jerk
who wanted free money for booze instead I've seen it all between Tampa & Detroit.)
These people need dignity, and ideas about how they might be able to take care of themselves and not lose confidence in life of needing handouts. I
love your ideas about these people needing handouts, not ideas.
And wrong again. The homeless are a standing population of 'survivalists'. The problem is too many only know how to survive with the exploits of
society. The homeless have grounds they cover, and stash caches all about where they keep things. They dont only live on sidewalks, they often creep
in areas off on the edges where others dont have specific reasons of being there. They can find places to plant things, in their routines.
They even have little camps I sometimes see off the edges of the highway. In fact, the one from my OP had his shopping cart overloaded with plastic
sheeting, some jugs and even a shovel. And if they have to choose to live outdoors to escape the chemicals he claimed they fumigate them with, they
ought to have ways of starting campfires that in effect dont run out of gas. If they have any hope whatsoever, which you appear to feel they dont,
they'd realize to start the fire before dark. And believe me, theres plenty of sunshine down here in FLORIDA. You can even light a cigarette with the
stack of lenses, that I got for free, I've tested it myself.
They need rehabilitation into self-reliance, as do a majority of todays 'civilization'.
I wish there were a list of ATS acceptable names for name calling I could reference, as right now I'd be picking the lowest one on it, for you.
because something ain't right with a man who only gives out seeds and magnifying glasses
For somebody who expects free food, handouts, healthcare, and so on... probably not. The funny thing I've been thanked everytime its come about. One
time a guy was standing outside the liquor store entrance to the local grocery store. I didn't have any of my apparently selfish handouts, but told
him how to keep some seeds from food and find places to plant them at random, and
he was grateful. He went to shake my hand at the end, and I
accepted.
Thanks for muddying up my thread.
[edit on 2-4-2010 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]