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nantid

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I am having Moral issues today. I was behind a homeless man at the lunch counter at work yesterday. He was trying to buy an apple and didn't have the 43 cents. I paid for his apple. I see him outside in freezing cold weather in clothes and shoes that don't fit,sleeping in laundramats ect. I bought him an Apple, SO WHAT!! he wasn't bumming for money boooze drugs or cigarettes. I bought him a effin appple and I went home to my nice warm house where I Buy bugs to feed more bugs!!!

 
A lot of the time people who are homeless ended up that way by poor personal choices. It's kind of you to buy him an apple, and if you feel like you should do more, go ahead. Buy him a full meal, give him an old pair of shoes or old jacket that you never wear anymore. But do not blame yourself for being selfish for having nice things.

 
I agree, only more to it then that, we never know just by looking why someone is without, there is always a story. Once a few Christmas's ago, my son brought McDonalds and brought extra for the man who always stands with a sign on the main street, he was just out of high school and still innocent by todays standards. He had no hestitations in giving him the food, which made me ashamed as I passed this person all the time and never did anything for him, why? because I am tianted by the world. I had made up in my mind that he really didn't need it. Instead of having an open mind and just giving him something, I was to bias to be kind. This really opened my eyes. Now instead of just giving to goodwill things I don't need, I rather give to those who do not have anything left to buy things with. I still give to Goodwill, just not as freely as before.

Theres a country song I like, dont member who by, "don't laugh at me" and the one piece in it, is about a man who lost his family to someone crossing the yellow line, and now does not have the heart to function as before, so he begs. I think I got it right. God did not make us all with a strong constitution, for whatever reason.

You can always go back and befriend this person, you will be rewarded in many ways for your giving heart.

Ever hear the story of a :" Man called Norman? " it is a good story, if I can I will link to it. In the story, (which is true) the person realizes that all Normans life people have been giving him things they did not want, old hand me down clothes no one would wear, and this person realized that instead of giving him something to be proud to wear he was doing the same thing. It is good story for us all. Sometimes to reach inside and give up stuff that means something to us, is more of a sacrafice then discarding things we don't want. Guess that speaks for itself. Guess u touched my heart today.

 
Deby said:
A lot of the time people who are homeless ended up that way by poor personal choices. It's kind of you to buy him an apple, and if you feel like you should do more, go ahead. Buy him a full meal, give him an old pair of shoes or old jacket that you never wear anymore. But do not blame yourself for being selfish for having nice things.
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+1 My neighbor let a homeless woman stay with her and even tried to help her get a job. The woman actually moved back out to the street on her own accord. It turns out she doesn't want to have a home. I still see her on a daily basis with her shopping buggy, always smoking a cigarette. Somehow, she can afford the smokes. :mellow: I don't think that all homeless are like that, but some do choose to be homeless. I think that particular woman might have plenty of money. :lol:

 
It's also not that hard for a homeless person to get a job. My brother was homeless for almost two years. I don't want to get into all the messy details, but he caused some really big problems within my family and he was no longer welcome at my family's house until he changed. He moved out of state, travelled the country, and lived in the Sequoia National Forest for months. He lived in LA with drunks and illegal immigrants. He was taken in by a kind family in Florida. He eventually was flown by our parents back here to Michigan. He talks about his adventures and experiences, and it wasn't nearly as hard to get back on his feet as people make it sound. But it wouldn't have been possible without the kind hearts of people like you, Nantid, and you, Rebecca.

 
Most states have community programs for people to re-acclimate back into to a normal life style. Street people have that decision, but it wouldn't hurt to point some people into the right direction as they might be uncapable of finding the correct resources. A little boost in the right direction couldn't hurt. Sometimes when people fall out of touch from society they need to learn to pick themselves up on their own, sometimes intervention doesn't always help and can make a situation worse as they will become more dependent on other's of their decision making. You sound like a very caring person and I wish the best for you.

 
Your heart is no-doubt in the right place, Debby, and your phrase about "people who are homeless ended up that way by poor personal choices" appears to fit the experience of your brother, bu is is estimated that about 1.3 million people, or 1% of the population of the U.S. population are homeless in any given year. The reasons vary from mental illness, and no one chooses to be mentally ill, through women facing abuse at home to unemployment and foreclosure.

The police often do what they can. In Prescott, not far from here, they solved the problem of homeless folks camping on the outskirts of town by breaking up the camp and defecating on what little property they found. "We Serve and Protect the Haves from the Have Nots."

Only when folks realize that the homeless are a problem of our society and not the outcome of poor choices will we do anything about it. When my son Dave and I lived in Chicago, a homeless guy and his dog started hanging out in the alley behind our house. We gave him and his dog food, and he would often sit by the garage when we were working there. One day, a youngish couple walked by and talked with us while he was there. The woman said, "You know; we should try to get him into a shelter." I told her, "I don't think that Joe likes the idea of living in a shelter; he values his freedom too much." "Oh, I didn't mean him," she said, "I meant the dog."

 
reading again what u wrote. man I know just how you feel, so u brought him an apple, some things really hits home, don't it?!!! Sometimes it is hard to enjoy what we have when we know others don't have it. Life is hard.

 
Wow, Thank you everyone for the nice posts. It seems the Mantis community is a very warm and caring group! I have 232 friends on facebook and I got only 2 replies when I posted the same story AND I KNOW most of these people personally! Your caring words mean alot to me. Unfortunatly my day is getting worse, I just found out a dear friend of mine passed away last night and my Mom was put on hospice. One good thing one of my Sybilla's molted into an adult today! Love you all, Nanette aka Nantid.

 
I'm so sorry to hear about your friend and mom. I'll pray for you, too!

I prefer this site to Facebook. I feel lonely on that site.

 
Thanks for your post, Phil. You said everything I wanted to say, and you said it better than I could have.

I read in the news today that 17% of American veterans are homeless. There's something deeply wrong with our society, and blaming the victims (even if that's not what you intend to do) isn't going to help.

 
PragmaticHominid said:
Thanks for your post, Phil. You said everything I wanted to say, and you said it better than I could have.

I read in the news today that 17% of American veterans are homeless. There's something deeply wrong with our society, and blaming the victims (even if that's not what you intend to do) isn't going to help.
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When I said that a lot of people are homeless because of their own poor choices, I forgot to mention that I don't mean to include veterans. It's terrible how so many veterans end up homeless, especially because they served our country. It's time we served them.

 
You can't help someone who doesn't want to change. I've tried to help many people and have devoted hundreds of dollars and hours of my time before I finally learned this. I pretty much just gave up after being taken advantaged of for so long. I put my time into places that don't involve people directly now. I found if you try to personally help people it doesn't work out as well as doing something like habitat for humanity or volenteering to do behind the scences stuff.

There's also a great essay by Ralph Waldo Emmerson that makes a wonderful statement. It basically says helping out is great but you should NEVER be guilt tripped into giving because then it becomes something of a sin or something like that. Read the essay, it's better ;)

 

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