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Binks
Social climber
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Dec 10, 2008 - 02:49pm PT
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By contrast, I attended and donated to a benefit for a friend of mine who broke his back in the course of his job and has been out of work 6 months due to the injury with no health insurance). I enjoy giving and helping out, but street folk won't be getting it. It will be the people I know and have a connection with when they need a hand.
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schwortz
Social climber
davis, ca
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Dec 10, 2008 - 03:07pm PT
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philadelphia has a neverending supply of crazy homeless people...
most of them are characters that you can get to know...especially in west philly...
there was mumbles...for umm obvious reasons...was really good at hailing cabs in front of upenn's freshmen dorms....when he got on his meds he'd disappear....when he'd go off of them he'd reappear on the street...
deaf/dumb bus guy...had a note he carried around...deaf and dumb and asking for help (cash) to get back on the bus and go home to way-west philly...he always walked the wrong way after you dropped some coin on him...
mr. mom...walked around penn's campus asking unsuspecting students for money to help him out because his car just broke down and he needs to get home because his wife just had twins...problem was...she was constantly having twins....sometimes just one....but usually twins....all the time...every week...month....year after year...
then there was mr. coffee...nice old guy sat on the steps of one of the shops at 40th and spruce....old guy...all he ever did was ask people to "buy me a cuppa kawfee"...you couldnt not...all he wanted was cofeee....
we knew this woman who was like another described above...inside and outside...had a house...mom and kids...but was a crack addict...so was on the street a lot....real nice...just an addict...
i used to buy hot dogs for the guys that hung around the wawa at 38th and spruce...good place to recharge when biking crosstown...for the 99cents that those hotdogs cost it sure made them real happy
like the OP i once was picking up a pizza pie somewhere in center city...it was winter...and cold...some woman was sleeping on one of those steam vents...looked cold...when i got out of the shop i offered her a couple of slices...she asked what kind and peered into the open box...then told me she didnt want any...had a cookie that afternoon...she was fine...i tried to convince her to keep it for later...but she wanted none of it...no pepperoni....
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Chris2
Trad climber
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Dec 10, 2008 - 05:12pm PT
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What you did was kind and I would say do it again. After reading your post my thoughts were that the person sadly had a mental disorder.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Dec 10, 2008 - 05:26pm PT
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I'm with Chris2.
Poor homeless guy.
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enjoimx
Big Wall climber
SLO Cal
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Dec 10, 2008 - 05:28pm PT
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Yesterday I bought a new down jacket, so I gave my old one, which was still decent, to a cold looking homeless guy on the street.
He then proceeded to ask me for money.
Money = drugs
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JOEY.F
Social climber
sebastopol
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Dec 10, 2008 - 05:41pm PT
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I don't think anyone chooses that life.
But you never where they will spend the money...
Good God Ekat,
Vivid!
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clemay
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Dec 10, 2008 - 05:47pm PT
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Yes Blinney, some of the "homeless" people in Boulder are like that. Last year, I saw a guy on the corner of Pearl Str and 30th with a sign saying "A cheeseburger sounds good, how about some help," while listening to an iPod and wearing new clothes!!!
I don't give money to people on the streets either since they are usually trying to support their drug habit. I'll give them leftovers if I have any if I go out to eat so if they decide to throw it out, no loss for me.
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Chris2
Trad climber
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Dec 10, 2008 - 06:10pm PT
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Give it a break kids.....many of us are homeless. Buy the guy breakfast and suck it up.
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nature
climber
Somewhere else....
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Dec 10, 2008 - 06:27pm PT
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I'm homeless... more or less. Vegan French Toast, please. And I like my coffee like I like my women... Hot Black and Bitter (and organic but I don't know what that looks like on a woman ;-).
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chainsaw
Trad climber
CA
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Dec 10, 2008 - 06:58pm PT
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I used to dumpster dive when I was poor and sometimes homeless in my early twenties. It is a good survival skill to know. I was the first person in Davis to raid peoples' recycling for cans to get money. I remember reaching into the salvation army dumpster looking for the mate to an alligator pump I found in there. My hand felt something wet and squishey....a used diaper.
I also used to dumpster dive for food. My favorite place was McDonald's because they throw out a lot of food that they prepare for the lunch and dinner rush. Advice: avoid french fries as they are droopy, wet and yucky. Also, burgers get pretty congealed fat nasty after they cool. Fillet of fish sandwich is much better cold. I hate when the fuchin manager dumps coffee grounds on everything. That really spoils it. If we had a place to cook, the best was McDonald's soup. Here is the recipe:
McDonald's Soup:
Two or three burgers chopped up in a pot
Add french fries
squeeze about twenty ketchups you stole in it
add water and boil till anything nasty in there is dead.
Serves two.
Seriously, I had to spend two hours today cleaning up after homeless people outside the gym. The junkies like to sleep under the bushes and trees on the street side. They shyt everywhere and left a syringe for me to find. I try not to hate them because I know how miserable their lives are. The guy who threw the food you gave him in the trash was starving for more than food.
Those whom the world has forgotten, the people whose lives are shattered -some are vets and mentally ill, they just want to be recognized. They are still human and deserve better than what they get from cold hearted America, no matter how wicked or despicable they seem. Our compassion is the only thing that separates us from the monkeys we came from. Christ said: "Unto the least of them, so you do unto me." Always remember that. I still have an old Hoover vacuum cleaner that I found in 1988 in the trash. It was old then, and it still works better than any new vac I've ever seen.
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chainsaw
Trad climber
CA
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Dec 10, 2008 - 07:15pm PT
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Yo, Nature is that you Chongo? I hope you are in Germany eating some hot pussy
Love Rob
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
http://tinyurl.com/4oa5br
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Dec 10, 2008 - 07:24pm PT
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the Saw has it.
next time you think you are high and mighty, grab a cardboard sign and see if you have the cajones to stand at a green arrow for an hour.
sober you right up.
when donations go down, people get sick and the ER room fills up, so they figured it is ten times cheaper for the tax payer to keep the homeless at at least a certain poverty level.
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nutjob
Stoked OW climber
San Jose, CA
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Dec 10, 2008 - 09:45pm PT
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I was never homeless, but I went to a weak high school that didn't offer required pre-reqs to get into a good college. So I dropped out of high school in my last year, and started hitch-hiking to a community college in the next town. It took a while to get hardened to the rejection, to seeing folks act like they can't see you.
It would be good training for a sales person!
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drljefe
climber
Calizona
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Dec 10, 2008 - 10:24pm PT
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I've had people offer me money THINKING I was homeless!
Hitch hiked from Vermont to Manhattan with my dog and was sitting on the street rollin smokes and sketching in my journal. Two dog walker ladies, obviously concerned about my dog, approached me and asked if I was alright and if my dog had food. I assured them that we were fine and just waiting for a ride, soakin' it all in. They handed me a 10 spot- I tried to refuse but they weren't havin'it. That's when I had my first legit slice of NY pizza!!!
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Jingy
Social climber
Flatland, Ca
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Dec 10, 2008 - 10:57pm PT
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You can lead a horse to water.....
In this case... a begger can be a chooser
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Dec 10, 2008 - 11:05pm PT
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It's been said, a good percentage of the homeless suffer from mental illness. The odds are this poor soul is one of them. Show some empathy people, if you care to learn more contact NAMI, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Count your blessings, peace.
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nita
climber
chica from chico, I don't claim to be a daisy
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Dec 11, 2008 - 12:34am PT
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Charles says, "It's been said, a good percentage of the homeless suffer from mental illness. The odds are this poor soul is one of them. Show some empathy people, if you care to learn more contact NAMI, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Count your blessings, peace."
Thanks Charles...
Some homeless are vets..some folks are down on their luck, some people are scamers. If asked -i usually give money or food. I count my blessing and try to pass some on.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Dec 11, 2008 - 12:53am PT
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Sorry, read quite a bit of the Thread, but can't read it in toto right now.
Blair, you did the right thing. How people respond is "on them". All we need to do in life really, is the right thing. We can't control or predict the outcome after we do it. And the outcome is not in our control...but doing the right thing is.
Yo, LRL
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Dec 11, 2008 - 01:50am PT
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The guy MIGHT not be playing with a full deck.
Reagan threw em (mentally incompetent, insane, call it what you like) out on the street in the 80's.
What you did was a nice thing, and anyone in their right mind would appreciate it. I'd say the guy is worse off than you first thought.
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Dec 11, 2008 - 02:12am PT
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Some are scammers, some are down on their luck. There does seem to be a tendency for those 'on the dole' to get used to being on the dole, and act accordingly.
I tend to be a pretty easy mark for these folks; -"There, but for the grace of the angels, go I..."
If you have something to spare, help somebody out, as you see fit.
Many dads out there need help.
There is someone out there that you know, or know of, who needs something that you can help with. Do what you can. The value of the result is not judged by their subsequent/consequent achievement, but in what you do.
I get the OP's angst, though.
"nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something," Gill Scott heron, probably someone before, as well.
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