i just want to add that i speak from experience....i lived in a van for several months on a couple occasions doing just this, although some of the times i didnt get a job and worked online for myself. also, my point was not that this is something every homeless person is capable of. many of them simply lack the motivation to do this even if they arent mentally ill or whatnot. my point was that a homeless person who legitimately wants to fix it can by all means. they can accept any hours for any job because theyre homeless, and can travel if they cant find work. there was a point in american history where many rode the rails and lived homeless in search of work. im not judging anybody one way or the other, just laying out a very simple plan that is guaranteed to take any determined person out of the homeless life. not to mention that its really fucking easy just to have foodstamps and a bike and a tent.....bike into town as needed and camp hidden in the outskirts. no job required. people are so scared that they somehow cant live a normal life because they dont have four walls to store their material possessions in. in reality it isnt that big a deal at all.
I think everyones getting too caught up in the wrong part of the OP. Yes, OP was a dick about this situation but that homeless guy was a dick about panhandling. If he simply let the women walk away after refusing to give money than i would be all for criticizing OP but that homeless dude was an asshole. You dont go to a restaurant, ask for free food and get pissed when they say no do you? Sent from my HTC One S using Grasscity Forum mobile app
You know what I used to know a homeless man about 27 years old and he did this exact thing. He had food stamps, had a bike, and lived in a tent in the woods behind a waterpark. He sold weed for a few extra bucks for his cell phone bill but just doing these simple things got him by like he wasn't even homeless. He would just walk the streets of the city and we would see him and pick him up, give him rides and he would spark us. I'm sure he;s still alive and well today doing the same. But I took it as if you were judging.. Yes all you said is available but when your at rock bottom, everything lost, I'm sure your confidence and dignity will go along with it. I'm already less confident than I should be, and If I lost everything I know I would just want to die. I wouldn't be thinking of buying a suit for a job I probably won't even get an interview for. I would be thinking of how I would get some food in me, where I could sleep, who could help me, and how can I get high.
see though, you romanticize the thought of giving up. its well and good to think "if my life gets worse ill just end it" but in reality when youre there it isnt the case. most people simply dont want to die. its easy, but in the situation few will end it and not see how things play out. eventually we end up finding a way to deal with it or elevate out of it. be it through hard work or handout. most people who are homeless dont remain that way for very long. the actual long term homeless population isnt as large as people imagine, and most of the long term ones just dont really feel a strong urge to change. although it has unique challenges it isnt hard to be homeless. and it isnt wrong to not own a home. some people are homeless by nature. today you can live better homeless than most people who have ever lived in the history of mankind. you dont even need to work for food. there are indeed cases of the mentally ill and otherwise truly incapable of supporting themselves. i think they should be taken care of much better by the system as long as we pay taxes. this part is a valid issue. but they are not a majority. most homeless are capable, not insane, and can work. they choose not to for various reasons (including being hardcore drug users) or fell or hard times. those that fell on hard times financially are almost always short term homeless.
Then that is on THEM. They are screwing their life up, and asking me, you, any other responsible adult to pay for THEIR error? Screw that. Someone above me mentioned that a lot of them were ex military-they have just as much access to the VA as I have. Damn you mean because i take care of myself, I work hard, and I earn what i have, I can't go ask for hand outs? guess im cancelling my dinner plans to go beg for red lobster to not give me a free pound of crab legs.
I love the homeless, I buy this homeless dude a 40oz every time I go to the gas station he's always pan handling at. Dude stays turnt 24/7 Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
I was homeless for 4 years, sleeping in the streets, youth centres, couch surfing, wherever I could. Now everything changed when I started guerilla growing, I managed to get 10 pound my first season, and it's 100% illegal here so I flipped the entire lot for over 30g, brought myself a caravan, went and got my car license then it's all been up hill since. Now I got a mad house, enough coin to support myself and endless amounts of free time, I did my hard years now it's easy living Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk
This was also pissing me off down in Denver there was one that I gave money too tho WHY you ask? Because he was atleast doing something to help (opening doors for people) I refuse to give money to the ones who sit there with a cup get off your ass and hold a door open wash someone's windows do something! But yes there are people who do have disability that make it hard for you to work/live If you are a homeless vet I will def give you cash tho Sent from my DROID RAZR using Grasscity Forum mobile app
As much as I'm against forces. A vet is a vet, he/she was serving for what they thought was right. It's sad so many are out there on the streets because of mental illness and bankruptcy.
Being homeless sucks and many are doing everything they can. Many others, especially here in the NW where being homeless is trendy, feel entitled to the contents of my pockets. Homeless on purpose or because you are genuinely down on your luck... Either way if you cop an attitude when I say you can't have my coins because all change goes towards my son, you can go fuck yourself. Even these super cool hipsters who panhandle for the hell of it don't automatically get hated by me. It's hard/impossible to tell anyway, but dickheads like the guy in the OP get no pity. Other side of the coin. I've worked many jobs who had a boss or two who always had 1 or 2 homeless people on payroll, usually at a place with only 4-5 employees total. Sure they only hired out of share houses but share houses accept some/most felonies here so if they'd been kicked out it was probably for something that makes them a POS. The genuinely mentally Ill tossed into the mix make the whole situation nearly impossible to judge/predict/control. All IMO of course
It's disturbing to me how judgmental and harsh people can be. Like it's been said many time it's near impossible to be able to criticize intelligently when you've never been in a certain situation yourself! There's a couple of things called empathy and sympathy and sometimes it's so much more beautiful than harsh and technical evaluations when it comes to a human being. I live in a nice part of Hollywood but every other Sunday I am delighted to take my 5'3, 105 pounds self through skid row to an amazing shelter called midnight mission. I've had the privilege to speak to dozens of homeless and destitute people and trust me when I say it can happen to anyone in the blink of a eye. Like someone said life truly does not fuck us all equally. It truly makes me laugh to see all those suggestions about how to get a job as a homeless person. First of all do you even realize how hard it is to get into a shelter? Hundreds of people will line up outside shelters everyday and the line gets cut off after 40 or 50 because that's all the place they got. If you're lucky enough to get in you're out the next morning and back in that line. Good fucking luck! Get a cheap gym membership? WTF. With what? Get a tent? Yeah you can but it won't be easy and you best be the biggest guy on skid row if you wanna keep it! Free bike? Where are you guys living! Use a friends phone? If you're really homeless most of your 'friends' are homeless too and far from having a reliable phone. I mean shit how are you even suppose to consider/be able to do anything else when you're always thinking about your next meal. Many will (luckily) never get to experience the truest all consuming hunger! Or worst, your next fix? Many will argue that's on them and I am not denying it by any means but it's become a disease. A disease started by a mistake. A bad decision. And we've all made those. It hurts as well as angers me to see so many people feel superior to other because they have made different mistakes than that person. All I am saying is no matter what/how that person got there and whose fault it was, they're a human being and so are you. Stripped of material positions you two are the same. If you can spare a dollar than I think you're almost morally obligated to! I don't care what that person did I care that I am doing my part as another human and that for a minute I will make another's life easier. Goddamn. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Of course if anyone's acting entitled and obnoxious then they can suck my dick! Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
just saying, most homeless wouldnt touch a shelter with a ten foot pole. they actively despise them. better to sleep on the street than have your shit stolen and being (sometimes) locked in with legitly problematic people. if youre homeless and panhandling as well as most (of course depending on circumstance)...a monthly gym membership can be paid off in less than one good day. there are also tons of other ways to clean for free, including sink cleans in a public bathroom, ideally with a lock. have you never seen the large amounts of tens littering skid row? unless they radically stepped up cracking down on visibility of the problem they should be there en masse.....but really if youre camping its best in outskirts hidden like i said. just because youre homeless on skid row doesnt mean you cant travel to a better area for living. head to a pawnshop and check out the price on their cheapest bikes. again, easily paid by panhandling or other money making. i mentioned how the gov. provides free cell phones.
Yeah, its kinda hard to get a job these days. However, they could be taking the steps to help their own cause. Most don't. Oh well, I won't lose sleep.
I second this America and Canada are probably the only places where being homeless is more of an option than opression. You can get a days worth of calories for $1 at mickey dees. Not saying its healthy but if your "starving" then i guess it aint so damn bad is it?
The only reason we should look down upon others is to help them back up. Look from a place of compassion instead of resentments or doubt. Walk a mile in their shoes.. There's a catch 22 for jobs, must have a valid address and phone #. You can't get a house without a job nor vice versa, as its already been said.