Call me cold-hearted, but no never. I've given money to this busker I saw everyday back when I went to school, no idea if he was homeless or not. Everyone used to know who he was. But yeah recently he was in the paper for having being murdered, and his body found in the Thames.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be totally honest, I don't really care for homeless people. Probably the wrong attitude to have, but unless I understood the situation they were in and how they got to the situation they are now in, I honestly find it hard to empathise. I'd prefer to give my money to a developing country, if I were to give it at all.

Call me cold-hearted, but no never. I've given money to this busker I saw everyday back when I went to school, no idea if he was homeless or not. Everyone used to know who he was. But yeah recently he was in the paper for having being murdered, and his body found in the Thames.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be totally honest, I don't really care for homeless people. Probably the wrong attitude to have, but unless I understood the situation they were in and how they got to the situation they are now in, I honestly find it hard to empathise. I'd prefer to give my money to a developing country, if I were to give it at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i wont call you cold hearted...but despite if it was their fault or not...i still believe helping someone out in need is always a good thing..and who knows when you'll need help yourself one day?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but i know where youre coming from

I've never given money to a homeless person. I don't have an opinion about giving money or not, it's just something that I don't know much about. People on this forum are saying "it's their fault" or "it's not always their fault", and "they just buy alcohol"... and it's all just conjecture and hearsay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Show me the results of a study that finds that 80% of homeless people are on the street through no fault of their own and they spend any money they get on bread and water, or something like that, and I might take an interest. But as I say, at the moment, it's just something I don't know much about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My own intuition suggests that a high proportion of homeless people have mental health problems, and are most in need of serious and sustained psychological support, not just random handouts from people on the street... But I don't know.

 

 

 

My own intuition suggests that a high proportion of homeless people have mental health problems, and are most in need of serious and sustained psychological support, not just random handouts from people on the street... But I don't know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This may be true in the UK, but in USA, there are "real" homeless people; Absolutely normal people who maybe worked for a low pay job but ended up homeless because their company wanted to cut on costs, somebody in the family got sick and they had to stay home, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And sometimes, there is no public welfare for these people. They have no other alternative than going on the streets and trying to scrape up what they can by picking up cans and begging for money. I can make a difference between these people and lifestyle narcs, and those people if somebody deserve my $20.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the USA, the attitudes against apparently homeless people or poorly clothed people who beg is very negative. I was sitting in McDonald's at about 11:40 AM on lunch and ordered a bunch of normal burgers with water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This guy walked up to by table, seeing the vast quantity of food I have, and asked "Hey, dude, could I have some since I didn't even get to eat any breakfast this morning". I thought about it and he seemed pretty genuine, but within 10 seconds the security guards were violently dragging him out of the restaurant and telling him "if you come back to harass our customers we'll call the cops".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His only mistake was asking for food, which I have no problem with, not for booze money...

usually, the musicians i do.

 

 

 

once there was a guy in bromsgrove who had come back from the army and found out his family had moved. he was pan handling to get transport to go and live with them and survive til he could...i gave him a pastie from greggs and some cash :)

 

 

 

but some people just sit there, not speaking a word of english and selling the big issue...no sympathy, sorry

I've only ever seen a couple homeless people in my life...On River St. in Savannah, Georgia...One was playing guitar and singing, so we gave him some money...They other ones were actually digging through garbage and eating out of it, not even asking for money...The were drinking people's left over beer out of the cups in the garbage, so I didn't give THOSE guys any money, as it's obvious they're there because of that.

I don't believe in giving anything to anybody who didn't work for it. I am a completly selfish person, so no, I don't give any money to homeless. A few years back before I started (trying) to follow these morals I still didn't give money to homeless. I saw a group of about 6 of them sitting on the side of the street one day, all with trashbags over their legs. At that time I felt sorry for them, and was possibly going to give them something. My dad who went around that area a lot (he was a mailman there) told me not to. One of them wasn't homeless at all. He drove a Corvette, he made a ton of money begging. At one point or another he has seen under their trashbags, which are there to cover up their $100 Nikes. So yeah, even before I became selfish I still never gave money to homeless. I am not saying all of them are like this, but you never know.

 

 

nope. its not my fault they poor........they uasualy r on drugs or they ran away from home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe you should spend your money on an English class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have perfect English mechanics. Have you ever heard of shortcutting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, did you use Word for that one? You sound quite a bit smarter when you actually type in English.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I live in the outskirts of Atlanta, and I generally don't see homeless people. I give to charity though. When I do go to the inner city, it's usually to a Thrasher game or Braves game, so I generally don't spend time on the streets.

Yeah i do. I give them props for standing outside all day.

I generally get the Big Issue whenever I go into the city and that's usually about it.

Yeah i do. I give them props for standing outside all day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm outside all day in the summer.. Do I get some money? :P

Lol, I have a little story about my encounter with a homeless person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the summer, me and my brother were taking the train to a Mets game. We were on the #7, only a few stops away from the stadium when a man walks on the train. You could tell he was homeless at first sight. He came up to me, my brother, and two people sitting next to us. He asks us "Anyone have 75 cents for the train home?". You could tell by his slurring of words and breath that he was drunk. We all said no. So he comes over to me and says "Come on! You Mets guys, lend a man 75 cents, I'm from Queens! I'm a Mets fan too! I hurt my leg and can't walk home." My brother tried to cover up his laugh, and the guy looks at him and says, "WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?? ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?". My brother simply says "No". So all of a sudden this homeless guy starts yelling "F*** THE METS!! IM FROM THE BRONX!! IM A YANKEES FAN!!" and kept going on yelling obscene things, then the train stops at the next stop and he gets off. Everyone bursts out laughing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on topic: If I see a homeless person, I just try not to stare and keep walking. Yea, I feel bad for them, but I just won't give them money unless they are doing something to earn it by something like singing (Which I've seen some of them do.)

The unfortunate get all the breaks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But seriously, I usually don't do it straight up, but I give to donations and stuff that help poor people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And it's not always their fault, they could've been born into a poor family.

I've only ever seen a couple homeless people in my life...On River St. in Savannah, Georgia...One was playing guitar and singing, so we gave him some money...They other ones were actually digging through garbage and eating out of it, not even asking for money...The were drinking people's left over beer out of the cups in the garbage, so I didn't give THOSE guys any money, as it's obvious they're there because of that.

 

 

 

Yeah, give it to the guy who could afford a guitar as opposed to the ones who probably too much pride to beg and were eatting out of a GARBAGE CAN.

 

 

 

I've never encountered any homeless people because i don't go downtown much, but if i did i would give them some money regardless if they were druggies/alcoholics or not.

 

I've only ever seen a couple homeless people in my life...On River St. in Savannah, Georgia...One was playing guitar and singing, so we gave him some money...They other ones were actually digging through garbage and eating out of it, not even asking for money...The were drinking people's left over beer out of the cups in the garbage, so I didn't give THOSE guys any money, as it's obvious they're there because of that.

 

 

 

Yeah, give it to the guy who could afford a guitar as opposed to the ones who probably too much pride to beg and were eatting out of a GARBAGE CAN.

 

 

 

I've never encountered any homeless people because i don't go downtown much, but if i did i would give them some money regardless if they were druggies/alcoholics or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In all fairness, it was a pretty crappy guitar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plus, he had talent and was obviously using it to his advantage. It may sound heartless, but homeless people are only homeless because they put themselves there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone can tell me how someone can be homeless and not have it be because of drugs/alcohol or other bad choices, I'd love to hear it. Bums get money ALL the time from people out of sympathy, yet none of them can save up and save up until they can afford to stay somewhere for a couple days, buy some clothes and get a job? Doubtful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I said, they were drinking people's alcohol out of the garbage. It's obvious what they would have done with the money.

A jobless man once approached me for some spare change which is 10 cent so i agreed and dug out 2 5 cent coins for him, after i gave him those little coins he gave me the "you cheapskate !" face, so from now on no money for homeless/jobless people. Oh ya he bought a packet of cigerattes with my spare change :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

I don't have much money to give right now, but I would support the local rescue mission instead of giving directly to the people begging. The mission has a rehab program, and then trains you so you can get a job. They help people become productive members of society again.

A jobless man once approached me for some spare change which is 10 cent so i agreed and dug out 2 5 cent coins for him, after i gave him those little coins he gave me the "you cheapskate !" face, so from now on no money for homeless/jobless people. Oh ya he bought a packet of cigerattes with my spare change :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do you buy a pack of cigarettes for 10 cents, anywhere in the world? Even in Ghana which is one of the poorest countries, you have to pay over 60 cents. Plus you play an online game, have a computer and internet access so I doubt you're from a very poor country.

No. I only want to donate to organisations who protect nature/animals and such.. I just.. it may be a bit stupid.. think that there are already enough people on the world. It's almost always their fault.. If you donate to the homeless, you don't donate to the source of the problems, but to the final product of it. Drugs is already forbidden, but you can still get it everywhere, so it's an endless problem.. and saving the rainforest can't be an endless problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

may be a bit difficult to understand what I'm trying to say -.-

There are plenty of homeless people around where I work. I had a friend once who gave out some money to one of them and the next day he and a bunch of his friends came up to her again asking for more money. Not a situation I want to be in as it can be quite dark when I get off work. I really feel sorry for them, but my own personal safety comes first in this case.

 

I've only ever seen a couple homeless people in my life...On River St. in Savannah, Georgia...One was playing guitar and singing, so we gave him some money...They other ones were actually digging through garbage and eating out of it, not even asking for money...The were drinking people's left over beer out of the cups in the garbage, so I didn't give THOSE guys any money, as it's obvious they're there because of that.

 

 

 

Yeah, give it to the guy who could afford a guitar as opposed to the ones who probably too much pride to beg and were eatting out of a GARBAGE CAN.

 

 

 

I've never encountered any homeless people because i don't go downtown much, but if i did i would give them some money regardless if they were druggies/alcoholics or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He never started out homeless, he proberly got a guitar and then lost everything except that guitar, now he is working for money.

It really depends on how much I have on me, but I usually give whenever asked. They generally need the money more than I do.

No I don't. Then again, I wonder if a lot of the people I see begging are homeless at all. A lot of them have rather nice watches that they neglect to take off. Most of them are rather clean shaven. A lot of them are too downright clean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't mean to be completely cynical: I'm sure there are homeless people who are homeless through no fault of their own, and I would like to help people like that (not that I think that I'm particularly obliged to do so when there are so many other, perhaps more worthy causes out there), but I'm certain that most people I see begging are doing it for the wrong reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I suppose it's very difficult for me to imagine a situation in which there was no-one to whom I could turn if I had no money and nowhere to live... I would do everything I could to avoid begging (which I think is abhorrent, frankly), but I do understand that perhaps there is sometimes nothing else for it. In such cases, as I say, I'd really like to help the person out. However, I actively want to hinder most of the people I see begging, and without asking the begger a rigorous series of questions to determine their actual motives, I don't know what to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unlike in the case of the death penalty*, "innocent" (or: worthy) people are not particularly likely to die if I don't give them money**. However, lots of guilty people are very likely to abuse trust if I do give them money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, this could just be the beggars where I live at the moment. Perhaps (in fact most likely) the beggars in a great many other places are more often worthy of aid. In that case I just hope I'd get that impression from their appearance and change my ways accordingly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*which just this moment has struck me as a particularly funny expression to use to describe a hazard in a board game .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**and yes, I realise that this could be a case of "but what if nobody gave them money!?", to which I'd say... oh well, sorry.

nope. its not my fault they poor........they uasualy r on drugs or they ran away from home

 

 

 

Homeless people don't always bring it on themselves, it's nowhere near as clear-cut as that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People become homeless for many reasons, as much as you may not like to hear that whilst you're busy feeling superior (sat, as you probably are, behind the computer your parents bought you).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some are victims of violent relationships, others have lost supporting family members and some fall ill themselves and can't pay the rent. None of these people brought it upon themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even those who did "bring it on themselves" don't necessarily deserve to be homeless. It's not that difficult to get addicted to drugs/alcohol, and even less difficult to get that one loan too many and lose your home. If you think someone's entire life should be written off for relatively small mistakes, then all I can say is that I hope it happens to you (if only because it would save me filtering through your nonsense on these forums).

 

 

 

[/anger]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All that being said, giving money directly to homeless people is reasonably daft for reasons that should be obvious.

I've bought a happy meal for a homeless person once =] I do a good deed a day... that was myn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not harsh or anything to homeless people, I usually help people out by paying busker's or donating to charity.