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What really killed me was seeing the homeless buy or sell drugs/booze. I went from a really wealthy suburb to a college campus that was more representative of "
by kloncks 16y ago
What really killed me was seeing the homeless buy or sell drugs/booze. I went from a really wealthy suburb to a college campus that was more representative of "the real world" and encountered the homeless on the edge of campus for the first time in life.
At first, we'd give money and feel awful about the homeless situation. Then, we saw a couple of the regulars making a drug deal. Then we saw that again.
After that, in my mind, any dollar I'd give isn't going for a McDonald's sandwich. Instead, in my mind, I was practically buying crack for the homeless myself.
The sad part is that I realize that it's likely that there's only a few bad apples and they're not all representative of the whole batch...but it's enough to let me say "no" without feeling guilty.
- brazzy 16y agoSo basically, you know you're rationalizing your lack of charity, and you don't care.
- jacquesm 16y agoEverybody has their own way of rationalizing why something is not 'their problem'. You could buy some food and give that instead. I've had a guy panhandling outside a supermarket here refuse food that I'd just bought because it wasn't money. Clearly he wasn't hungry but to me that doesn't make me look at all homeless people in the same way.
- kloncks 16y agoTo be fair, we have now done exactly that. If we have food on us, we'd give it. Not saying I don't care or rationalizing that it's not my problem. I'm just saying that the way I explain this could be used by many others to explain it as well.
- Devilboy 16y ago'This homeless guy asked me for money the other day. I was about to give it to him and then I thought he was going to use it on drugs or alcohol. And then I thought, that's what I'm going to use it on. Why am I judging this poor bastard.'