A helping hand

[Erisianmonkey]

Reading that choked me up, and I (embarrased to say now) am usually quite heartless to the homeless... You're a good man.

I don't think you really mean heartless to the homeless necessarily, but "heartless" to panhandlers. If that is what you mean, I don't really think you should be sorry. I was homeless at one point in my life. I slept under a bridge, took showers in a laundromat that I found that had them, and ate usually only once a day at a soup kitchen. I worked odd jobs when I could get them, but my health wouldn't always let me. One thing I can tell you I never did was panhandle. I borrowed money from a few people, but I was never one of the people on the street asking for spare change. I don't have much sympathy for them because there are ways to get help finding jobs etc., and almost every city with a population of over 15,000 has a soup kitchen where they can get food and clothing that has been donated by people. Panhandling just isn't necessary.

This by no means invalidates what Darrell has done. Indeed, it highlights it. I don't think these folks were coming up to him looking for a handout (if I read the post correctly), but rather he was moved by their plight and decided to give them a hand up. (And may the Gods bless him for it!)

[NewKilt]

I don't think you really mean heartless to the homeless necessarily, but "heartless" to panhandlers. If that is what you mean, I don't really think you should be sorry. I was homeless at one point in my life. I slept under a bridge, took showers in a laundromat that I found that had them, and ate usually only once a day at a soup kitchen. I worked odd jobs when I could get them, but my health wouldn't always let me. One thing I can tell you I never did was panhandle. I borrowed money from a few people, but I was never one of the people on the street asking for spare change. I don't have much sympathy for them because there are ways to get help finding jobs etc., and almost every city with a population of over 15,000 has a soup kitchen where they can get food and clothing that has been donated by people. Panhandling just isn't necessary.

This by no means invalidates what Darrell has done. Indeed, it highlights it. I don't think these folks were coming up to him looking for a handout (if I read the post correctly), but rather he was moved by their plight and decided to give them a hand up. (And may the Gods bless him for it!)

One thing these folks related to me is that there are the panhandlers out there, there are dangerous people out there, and then there are good people that through no fault of their own, have become homeless. They said that you get stereotyped as lazy, shiftless, or even dangerous.

They never once asked for a handout, or even mentioned that they were homeless - I brought that up. The man had a part-time job starting the very next day. I talked to them for quite some time before deciding that it was probably safe to take them home. They related that two things that make getting back on your feet difficult is having a place to stay on a regular basis, and having consistent transportation.

I appreciate all the kind comments. We've probably gotten off topic in that we are not talking about kilts. But, in many respects, the fact that I wear a kilt as my daily attire made some good things happen. It's sort of like the kilt again being worn into battle and helping to win a victory. Perhaps in this case, one small victory against homelessness.

I'm reminded of the WWI recruiting poster that features a kilted Irish piper, and has the phrase "The call to arms, Irishmen don't you hear it?"

Darrell