The other day, I was standing on the corner of Bloor and Church, waiting for my sister, when I saw a man - fairly dissheveled and in need of a shower, new clothes, and a haircut - reach into a garbage bin. And he was really reaching in there, and it was one of those bins with the 3" x 10" flap openings for paper recycling, cans and bottles, and litter, so it wasn't easy.
So he reached in there up to his armpit and extracted two cups - a Starbucks grande cup, and a Tim Hortons large ice cappucino cup that was 1/3 full. He promptly popped off the lids and drank the dredges in each of these cups before starting off again.
Now, I was standing there, watching this with great horror and pity, and was about to put some money and my Kit Kat bar into the man's hands when the little "big city" alarm bell in my head went off. It said: WARNING - CRAZY MAN AHEAD. DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT. DO NOT APPROACH. DO NOT PITY, FOR HE WILL KNIFE YOU WITH A SHARPENED SPOON FOR WHATEVER ELSE MIGHT BE ON YOUR CORPSE.
He was gone before I could reconsider, and I felt bad. Then again, I might have avoided disaster: one night, I was practically mugged by two homeless men when I conceded to give one a fast food voucher and he insisted I give him and his friend money instead. Another time, I ended up giving a very young couple 20 bucks when I said I'd give them the change in from my groceries because the girl was "pregnant and needed to go home to Oshawa." (I swear, if she isn't taking good care of that baby and used the money on drugs instead, her uterus will fall out of her.)
Did I do wrong? Should I have given this shifty character my 50 cents and the nutritionless candy bar?
2 comments:
Hi Vicki,
You're a great writer. :-) Love your sense of humour. Ugh, that sounded like a pretty gross sighting there, also very pitiful. I suppose you could have offered him your Kit Kat and 50 cents, but if this guy is reaching up to his armpit in garbage bins to get remains of an Iced Cap (I know they're good, but ...) he'd probably pick half-eaten burgers up off the street too, so I wouldn't wrack my conscience too bad.
All kidding aside, that's awful. Why doesn't our government do something to help the homeless in our city? Answer: cuz it's taking money out of their pockets.
I don't like giving money to pandhandlers because:
1) they might use it to support their addiction
2) they might be scammers like the 'shaky lady' or my former highschool classmates
3) it doesn't help or encourage them to get off the street because they can still survive on your money
It is best to give your money to charity, which can provide services and programs that go towards a long term solution.
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