Honestly, this is something that I think about a lot, especially since I moved to the Bay Area. In Dana Point, I used to make jokes about the homeless getting shipped to LA so they wouldn't be an eyesore (which apparently may be true), I never saw them. Here, you can't not be confronted with the down and out, homeless, junkies, crazies, gutter punks, anarchists, stoners. Funny signs asking for money for weed, booze, flux capacitors. Dirty cups thrust in front of your face, spare change, sometimes they just say hello. Sometimes I practically trip over myself to give something, sometimes I don't even look at them.
When I'm asked for change, 1/2 of the time I say no, 1/4 I say yes, and the other 1/4 I give leftovers or buy food for. I've been wanting to get involved with
Not Bombs, because I have a lot of free time and feel not great about sitting on my ass or partying all the time. When I give money, I wonder how they're going to spend it. I've been taught that most spend it on booze or drugs. I don't know whether I'm helping or hurting by giving money, I hate to assume the worst. There's a really cool independently-printed paper called
Street Spirit that I
do not purchase enough.
When it comes to those less fortunate than me all across the globe, people without food, clean water, proper clothing, medical attention, I'm at a loss. The most I'll do is use them to keep myself in my place. If I want a new shirt, or am not happy with my meal at a restaurant, or some other bullshit. Honestly, it's kind of frightening how much I and a lot of the people I know have, how much money we all waste, how much food we waste, how much stuff piles in our rooms until we can barely keep them organized.
When it comes to "sharing the wealth", I guess I'm actually a pinko. I don't mind high taxes if it's being used towards making sure people can afford health care, school, college, food. Yeah, people cheat the system, and I hope there's someone there to make sure that it happens as little as possible. There's so much food and clothing and empty buildings out there, that I'm convinced that we can turn the tide of homelessness and poverty around.
When I start thinking about that, giving a buck to a homeless guy doesn't seem too horrible.
I just need to take the next step and actually DO SOMETHING other than giving money.