So I live most of my life downtown, working, now, and my opinions about things like poverty and apathy are being formed practically - I wish I could fall back on my abstract idealism, believe me. I make minimum wage plus tips in the heart of the business district. I'm a well-liked character who runs the shop on my own 90% of the week, so people know my name and get a kick out of my quirks. I am fond of inventing customized drinks based on listening intently to my customers, and I never thought my life would lead me to a place where I am happy to be developing a cult around that.
But back to the poverty and apathy, which, in varying degrees, I witness every day. And I'm proud to say that I don't have a philosophy (or even presumptive observations) about "these people" (the homeless, the beggars), and I likely never will - although I frequently humor my favorite customers by making a convincing stand that if only "these people" just did something society demanded, the world would open up to them, concluding with the red-herring aside (which is actually my faux thesis) that giving cash away to the beggars doesn't do anyone any good - ever. And there is solid logic to that perspective - it is a valid argument - which is why it works so well as a conversation piece.
Like I said before, however, I will purposefully remain on the fence about these down-trodden individuals for the simple fact that they are individuals with unique circumstances. A macro-economic argument cannot be applied in good conscience by anyone with good conscience to this group as if their similarly stratified situations define "them."
Today I was walking through the court district - civil, criminal, family - and there was a black man lying on the ground on a street corner. He could have been passed out, he could have been dead. But the observation that stuck with me is that two police cars passed by without even slowing down. I walked by him and he didn't budge at the presence of the wooden clacking of my beautiful dress shoes. Another man, this one white and two blocks further toward the business district, was making animated gyrations and attempting to interact with the passing professionals. Once again the police, who are centralized around this area, ignored him.
I spoke to a black woman who rides the bus with me every night about this, with the dishonest intent of conveying that I was in favor of having these individuals detained. But I couldn’t help it half-way through my typically dishonest conversation and complained that the duty of the police is to protect and serve.
The two individuals I described who live on the fringe of society do have options – a popular argument I regularly apply to homeless individuals who have obvious mental clarity and physical health – but how are the previously mentioned two individuals supposed to deliver themselves to these allegedly readily available options, if the people charged with the task of protecting and serving, backed by state money, do not pick them up and introduce them to the proper intake institutions? I believe that by not even giving the basic attention needed – a quick ride to a facility (other than jail) – the truly lost will forever and ironically be viewed as drains on society, despite the fact that I see none of society’s resources being allocated to them, as these two individuals are too far out in their own perceptions to even successfully panhandle.
Today an obviously impoverished black man, about age 40, came into the shop to thank me for an apparently positive interaction we had previously shared. I told him I didn’t remember, but he assured me that what I told him helped his spirit immensely. Knowing black people’s propensity for religion and Jesus, I told him that Christ still shone in him and wants nothing more than for him to be positive. God is love, I said, and he has a plan for everyone. He loves you, I told him. Then I gave him two dollars. Of course I don’t believe in God or Jesus, but what I do believe is that people in negative situations can be manipulated based on their familial conditioning to not fall completely into apathy. So I have no qualms or embarrassment about preaching the good word to someone whose brain chemistry reacts well to it. My policy on religion will forever remain on the fence for this reason, as it can do good things for people, although I am incapable of honestly being a believer.
I allowed this man to sit in my shop until closing, citing the fact that I knew he was just walking around the streets anyways – and he looked half-way decent still; the trappings of absolute relegation had not yet made his eyes wily and full of fear and contempt. And my feeling about that is that if I can keep him from crossing that line internally, I will have done some good even from a Darwinian perspective – for nurturing pain and loss through boisterous and vocal abandonment will do nothing but create an irate and violent underclass. More important than supporting them financially, by far, is the need to not cast them out with stoic body language and quietly malicious words. They must be fed that which they truly lack, and this has little to do with money.
Some days, I am frustrated with my own lack of a clear path in society’s eternal ladder, and I verbally abuse the droves of beggars who catch me after work only on the days when I am at my least empathetic. But on the balance, I try to do well with what I have to give.
But back to the poverty and apathy, which, in varying degrees, I witness every day. And I'm proud to say that I don't have a philosophy (or even presumptive observations) about "these people" (the homeless, the beggars), and I likely never will - although I frequently humor my favorite customers by making a convincing stand that if only "these people" just did something society demanded, the world would open up to them, concluding with the red-herring aside (which is actually my faux thesis) that giving cash away to the beggars doesn't do anyone any good - ever. And there is solid logic to that perspective - it is a valid argument - which is why it works so well as a conversation piece.
Like I said before, however, I will purposefully remain on the fence about these down-trodden individuals for the simple fact that they are individuals with unique circumstances. A macro-economic argument cannot be applied in good conscience by anyone with good conscience to this group as if their similarly stratified situations define "them."
Today I was walking through the court district - civil, criminal, family - and there was a black man lying on the ground on a street corner. He could have been passed out, he could have been dead. But the observation that stuck with me is that two police cars passed by without even slowing down. I walked by him and he didn't budge at the presence of the wooden clacking of my beautiful dress shoes. Another man, this one white and two blocks further toward the business district, was making animated gyrations and attempting to interact with the passing professionals. Once again the police, who are centralized around this area, ignored him.
I spoke to a black woman who rides the bus with me every night about this, with the dishonest intent of conveying that I was in favor of having these individuals detained. But I couldn’t help it half-way through my typically dishonest conversation and complained that the duty of the police is to protect and serve.
The two individuals I described who live on the fringe of society do have options – a popular argument I regularly apply to homeless individuals who have obvious mental clarity and physical health – but how are the previously mentioned two individuals supposed to deliver themselves to these allegedly readily available options, if the people charged with the task of protecting and serving, backed by state money, do not pick them up and introduce them to the proper intake institutions? I believe that by not even giving the basic attention needed – a quick ride to a facility (other than jail) – the truly lost will forever and ironically be viewed as drains on society, despite the fact that I see none of society’s resources being allocated to them, as these two individuals are too far out in their own perceptions to even successfully panhandle.
Today an obviously impoverished black man, about age 40, came into the shop to thank me for an apparently positive interaction we had previously shared. I told him I didn’t remember, but he assured me that what I told him helped his spirit immensely. Knowing black people’s propensity for religion and Jesus, I told him that Christ still shone in him and wants nothing more than for him to be positive. God is love, I said, and he has a plan for everyone. He loves you, I told him. Then I gave him two dollars. Of course I don’t believe in God or Jesus, but what I do believe is that people in negative situations can be manipulated based on their familial conditioning to not fall completely into apathy. So I have no qualms or embarrassment about preaching the good word to someone whose brain chemistry reacts well to it. My policy on religion will forever remain on the fence for this reason, as it can do good things for people, although I am incapable of honestly being a believer.
I allowed this man to sit in my shop until closing, citing the fact that I knew he was just walking around the streets anyways – and he looked half-way decent still; the trappings of absolute relegation had not yet made his eyes wily and full of fear and contempt. And my feeling about that is that if I can keep him from crossing that line internally, I will have done some good even from a Darwinian perspective – for nurturing pain and loss through boisterous and vocal abandonment will do nothing but create an irate and violent underclass. More important than supporting them financially, by far, is the need to not cast them out with stoic body language and quietly malicious words. They must be fed that which they truly lack, and this has little to do with money.
Some days, I am frustrated with my own lack of a clear path in society’s eternal ladder, and I verbally abuse the droves of beggars who catch me after work only on the days when I am at my least empathetic. But on the balance, I try to do well with what I have to give.
