(September 28, 2012 at 7:27 pm)TaraJo Wrote:(September 28, 2012 at 7:16 pm)Cinjin Wrote: It's a rare thing when I give a homeless person money. Most (not all) in THIS country are there because of their own laziness and/or stupidity.
Or mental illness. It's scary, on multiple levels, how many of the homeless are pretty damn delusional.
Most of the homeless are people who either are mentally ill and never got help, never accepted help, or couldn't afford help. It scares me when I realize I've lost jobs because I was in such a massive state of depression the thought of getting standing up seemed like a waste of time, let alone going to work, and that I can't afford to go to therapy or a psychologist or get medications or anything. The only affordable alternative is weed which dispels any/all issues I seem to be having rather well [a temporary fix, perhaps, but a couple tokes of a high-grade will be enough to get me through the day regardless of how miserable I woke up feeling], but then weed is illegal and jobs frown upon you taking it even if you have a medical reason for it, and if it shows up in a piss test you can't get a job or you will lose your job, so... That shit kind of scares me.
Others are people who basically drank themselves into homelessness. There are a few who basically got dealt a shit-flush in the great card game of life, though. Best way to tell; if you someone who is homeless and begging for money, ask them the following: "I can't give you any money, but I can go buy you a sandwich or a burger or something, that alright?" If they're starving or not an alcoholic homeless person [there's quite a few actually] they'll accept the charity gratefully or without complaint. If they're just looking for their next fix of booze they'll throw a hissy-fit, and at that point you can be morally and ethically justified in shrugging your shoulders and walking away. I wouldn't give money to my best friend if she was an alcoholic and asked for money to feed her addiction, why would I do it for a total stranger? But I WOULD buy my best friend food if she was starving and had no money, and I would also do it for anyone else in that circumstance, too.
Best kind of work you can do for the homeless? Volunteer at a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter.
