These days I see quite a lot of people begging for some petty cash. Subways, streets, public places and joints. Almost all of them have a touching story to tell. Most of the time I do find it convincing and would like to help with a dollar or two but lately it's getting out of control. I feel this has become more or less a business model to keep begging in areas where there are people. I see people on the street with cardboard signs, people doing tiny skits to impress/entertain, people trying to raise money for other poor people. This morning on the way to work, I encountered 3 different beggars in 20 minutes. While I would like to help with my allocated budget, I am afraid I might be hurting the system. System, where people are volunteering to help these and many other poor who do not beg and are out of sight. I find myself in emotional dilemma where I would like to help but also do not want to harm a system. What do you do in cases like these?
Not all are like this. I started offering to buy food and some seem grateful and accept, others become belligerent.
You can make a lot of money in a day standing at a busy traffic signal getting dollars from people, more than you can make working for minimum wage for a day.
So I mostly quit giving cash, except in cases where I have been travelling and the person I've met provided a useful service or local knowledge to me as a tourist/foreigner.
You're off base there, mate. Or maybe you've just never been actually physically starving.
If all he wanted was money, he should have said so. By refusing to accept what he was asking for he was proving to be less than trustworthy.
Not necessarily. There a couple homeless people who hang around outside a cafe near where I work. When I pass them, I'll offer to buy them a coffee and some food. I don't give cash because I don't carry any. I carry plastic so offer to buy them whatever they want.
Short anecdote - A friend met a homeless man on Haight St who in exchange for a burrito showed him some of his wild world. The man ended up taking him to an abandoned warehouse covered with mattresses and needles. The man opened up a bit and told my friend that when he asks for money, he doesn't care so much if people don't give it to him. But what gets to him after a while is how most people won't even acknowledge his existence when he asks. He said he understood if people said no, but he appreciated at least being told no or even simply looked at.
But when someone asks me for money on the street, I almost always respond to them by saying "Sorry" or similar. I've always felt it rude to just walk by ignoring their presence. And probably over 95% of the time the person answers back something like "ok, have a great weekend" or "Thanks anyway".
That said, I think many people that walk past without making eye contact do so not because they think the person begging is inferior, but likely because they're hiding in their own shame.
I've seen similar behavior on crowded subways, where able-bodied people avert eye contact with the pregnant lady or senior citizen who is standing, wanting both to keep their seat but hoping someone else gives up their own seat.
At least for bigger outfits, it's easy to find out how your money is spent.
It is undeniable that most of the homelessness is due to mental illness and/or drugs, and if you give to panhandlers you are perpetuating the problem. But living in DC you are also in the street a lot (hanging out in Dupont circle or whatever), and you get to know the homeless in your area. It's just really hard to feel good about any decision you make, and it is hard to say no to someone you've had conversations with. OTOH, you also see them absolutely incoherent on a bench and know this is not going to end up well. Then they disappear.... it's hard. So many still haunt my mind.
Give to charity instead.
I won the inheritance lottery, but still find it very hard to be disciplined and stay motivated. I think I would have no chance to get back on my feet, once being homeless, addicted to drugs or something like that.
If you are concerned that money would be used for something that you object to, buy them something to eat, or maybe some warm clothing. It is quite common for homeless people to wear shoes whose soles are falling off.
If you don't want to give money at all, or have none to spare, then stop to introduce yourself, ask their name then offer to shake their hands.
My shaking that hand which society deems as unworthy of being shaken, you may very well have saved a human life.
They're literally someone begging:
Begging:
ask for something, typically food or money, as charity or a gift
What would you have people call them?
We have in our power to completely end this kind of unnecessary suffering. No one ever need go hungry. But we don't live in that kind of world ecause the people in power are more concerned with popularity contests and money than human happiness, comfort, or dignity.
If you want to help go volunteer at a soup kitchen or get into politics.
I don't give them money or food. For the same reason I don't try to move the sea to the mountains.
As to the "system", if your definition of the system is people volunteering to help people in need, then your choice to donate is a choice to be part of that system. It's not hurting it, it's part of it. You are volunteering to give, not forced.
Side note: I don't consider people doing something as entertainment "begging". It's an attempt to exchange time for money. I find it similar to going to a theatre. Of course I won't pay the same prices, but it's entertainment nonetheless. I feel busking is work, where they put in energy and time hoping to receive compensation, just like most people who have "regular" jobs.
Begging has increased massively in my city over the past few years (common in most of northern Europe)[1][2].
Some thoughts on this (totally understand if people disagree, it's a difficult topic):
- These people are obviously poor and miserable. Feeling sorry for them is a natural and human thing.
- But, if everyone were begging all humans would starve to death. It's not scalable.
- There are ~1 billion people on less than $1 a day (even with PPP adjustment that's probably less than most beggars make).
- Begging is sort of a 'squeaky wheel gets the grease' allocation method. It's likely that there is someone else that would need the money more.
- It feels like a bad thing to incentivize.
- These people have harsh lives, and often they've started with unfavorable odds. But I think it's more useful to focus aid/effort on structural issues, like fighting corruption, improving world trade, good institutions, education, etc (in both developed and developing countries).
- Human civilization as it stands today is a product of long, hard struggle. Most people have lived grim lives.
- Mostly an anecdote, but I watched a movie called 'Last Train Home'[3], about a Chinese family that works 12+ hours a day, 51 weeks per year. They saw their kids 1 week per year. That's quite the struggle. I'd guess most people watching the movie would feel that these parents lived a harder life than many people begging in rich western cities.
I'm not arguing these are in any way optimal (or even good choices), but things I've donated to are Transparency International, Amnesty and Wikipedia.
[1] http://www.newsweek.com/half-swedes-want-ban-begging-319327
[2] http://www.newsweek.com/influx-roma-norway-leads-begging-ban...
I think most of the people begging have mental health issues, and it can be very hard to tell at a glance who is sick or not, so I try to give without worrying about who the money goes to too much.
Also, I try to see it as a chance for me to be grateful for what I have and to share a little bit.
We need more low income housing, more unskilled work (or a basic income), more care for the mentally ill, more public restrooms, food pantries, and safe places to go. We need to help people who are on the brink of homelessness stay off the streets.
What we don't need is more panhandling. It's a public nuisance that mainly benefits charlatans, and draws resources and good will away from those who need it the most.
In retrospect, I probably would have put that five dollars to better use.
People live like that because they can live like that. If you give them cash, you're enabling their lifestyle.
I fed homeless people from a portable soup kitchen a couple of weeks ago. If you want to genuinely help people who genuinely need it, give them directions to a soup kitchen and social workers who know how to deal with them.
But the chances are that they already know where they can get real help, and they'd rather stand around earning $20 or more an hour asking people for cash. http://www.quora.com/Homelessness/How-much-money-do-beggars-...
I feel strongly that giving money to someone who is deliberately spending their day begging is actually harmful to that person -- since any success prolongs their time begging. I guess I am assuming that the end goal is to not be begging.
A friend of mine once explained that his philosophy is that "it's not up to him to choose what they do with the money." So, he is very open to giving change to people who are begging.
I contemplated this for several months, and decided that it doesn't change my feelings. It took a lot of thought.
Do/Would I help beggars? Yes, but not by giving them my pocket change.
The beggars have some organization, so that 100+ people don't swarm all the best spots.
Seriously?
Just buy one guy's smile for a dollar and move on. No harm to the system is done.
