The homeless excuses.

No. This is not an entry about why homeless people are homeless. This is not an entry about people "getting what they deserve," et cetera. It seems odd to me that almost everyone wants to punish homeless for being homeless, and punish poor people for being poor. People are homeless (and poor) for a multitude of reasons. It is unfortunate that the richest country in the world has people who cannot afford a place to live. Maybe socialism would benefit the homeless. I don't think Americans would miss democracy, as long as they could still shop and eat non-stop, and watch trashy reality TV.

This is an entry about the rather amusing tactics homeless people use to shake-down passers-by into giving them money.

Yesterday, I was leaving Aroma Café in my car, and this man started to wave me down as I was driving. Now, before I got in my car, I saw him walking up Neil Street. For a second, I had that "Soul Glow" jingle from the movie Coming to America in my head. This guy had eccentric long hair, and his style was just..."off." So anyway, I am driving, he waves me down, and so I stop and roll down my window. He starts asking me about directions to get onto I-74 from Neil Street. Originally, I thought he was verifying directions. Then he started tacked on something like, "I just need $40 to get to Danville."

Shit! It looked like I walked right into that one.

So he continues his script of needing to get to a church in Danville, and he just needed the bus fare. Hmm...he needs money for a bus to Danville, so how did he end up in Champaign? Was he hitching rides across Illinois? Did his auto break down? These questions will never be answered. I gave him $4 in dollar coins because that was all I could grab quickly. After I gave him the money, he said something like, "I'll pray for you, in Jesus' name." We shook hands, and I drove off.

Ok, everyone needs help once in a while. Everyone. Due to this, I never understood the frustration from people I knew who would berate me for giving money to homeless people. More times than not, they would say something akin to, "They are just going to use that money for drugs." So fucking what? If we applied that line of logic to peoples' legitimate paychecks, would it be unreasonable for a boss to dictate how a subordinate spent their money? Of course it would! How out of line would it be for a boss to tell their subordinate to only spend money on this, this, and that, but not on those over there? People can spend their hard-earned cash on whatever they want -- including drugs and booze -- and a supervisor cannot stop that person. (The law can, but only if that person gets caught.) If I give money to some homeless person, it is not my business to ensure they don't spend it on booze or drugs. I would hope they wouldn't spend it on booze and drugs. If a homeless person is begging for money, I would hope they would spend it on food before drugs. They probably do.

I would like to point out that the reason people are begging for money is because they have no money to spend. This equation is so simple. Maybe that is why it is beyond most people's comprehension. Then again, people don't think about what they don't see. When people do see the homeless, they usually walk in the opposite direction. Out of sight, out of mind, money still in the wallet.

On the flip side of this phenomenon is the fact that homeless feel the need to have some grandiose reason to beg for money. "I need money to go to church in another town" or "I need to buy my medicine." I've heard the latter before from a renoun homeless woman in downtown Champaign. Look, I understand you are homeless, and you are probably hungry. You don't need to lie to me to get money. It would be refreshing to me if a homeless person said to me, "I am hungry so could you please spare some change?" Hell yes. For that, you'll get more than change.

But anyway...I really hope that people give more homeless people money. They need it.