Times are tough, but this is something we can all do. (All being those with means to pay for internet access)
Personally, I find carrying change to be annoying. It's always jangling around in your pocket like a Pitbull song, getting in the way of your keys, and scratching your phone cover. Rule of thumb: If you own a car, you should not be carrying nickels, pennies and dimes. There is someone out on the street who needs it way more than you. Even if he/she smokes crack and tells you he/she is going to buy crack with your change, even if they are really rude about it, you should still give it to them because their life is and will most likely forever will be much, much worse than yours.
My mother and father don't give change to the homeless on the basis of, "it doesn't really solve the problem." (My dad does have a soft spot for women and the blind, but my mom, despite being a doctor who swore to do no harm as a medical professional, can be kind of a callous woman and prefers to also do no good while she's off-duty) They're right in some sense. That guy will probably buy a little bag of Cheeto's or maybe a lighter to burn crack instead of using it as a downpayment towards a house, or finally starting that Roth IRA, but perhaps if we were more inclined to donate more than sixteen cents at a time, three times around the holidays, the homeless would have more optimism towards their life prospects.
I don't read The Street Spirit, but I do take it sometimes when I stop and talk to Jasper (or maybe it's Lester, I can't really remember). He is the kind old man with foil teeth outside the Walgreens on Polk St. right by Nick's Crispy Taco's. Sure, I usually buy him an orange soda, but what always gets me is that this guy is constantly smiling, and giving away the paper. Yes, a homeless person... giving things away. Got that? Let's go over it one more time. He has foil teeth. He is full of smiles. He has no home. He gives shit away.
I'm not all that good at reading people, but I'm not autistic. This guy has a good heart, and is not trying to scheme a fortune out of this newspaper charity act.
Maybe you're like me though, and you hate carrying cash around. That is completely understandable. I don't like using ATMs, knowing how many nose-picking, pee-dabbing, ass-wiping fingers have pushed those buttons. I find the convenience of the VISA card irresistible. So if you never carry change here is an amended lesson two: When you buy something from Safeway or Walgreens and it asks you to round up to the nearest dollar for cancer research, or for hurricane victims, round up. It will make your bank statements so much easier to look at, and you Californians can pretend like you live in a great state like Oregon who won't sell you something on the dollar menu for $1.09. And if you find Oregon unacceptable, buy the cheeseburger donate sixteen cents to a homeless man, and dry your socks for twenty-one minutes. That's two dollars well spent.
Another way around the "I don't want them to use it towards drugs argument" is that you can offer to buy them a taco, a small order of fries, or some sort of confection outside of the fast food joint they have stationed themselves outside of. But I understand, you're very busy. You have places to go, and you don't want to feed the fast food industry because you just watched Food Inc, Fast Food Nation, or Super Size Me. You'll have to learn to pick your battles, sure. But you should at least pick one. Personally, I'm a people person. If Dr. McDonald can stuff 500 calories in a $1 burger that you can keep unrefrigerated in your pocket for two weeks, then God bless Dr. McDonald.
No comments:
Post a Comment