Wed 19 Nov 2008
I Give Money To Homeless People Because It Boosts My Self Esteem
Posted by Andrew Blanco under Psychology, Society
And you do too… whether you admit it, or not.
What Is Money Worth?
We can never know for sure where our money goes after we hand it out to people on the street. This is of course the reason why we give money rather than material items - the ambiguity of our gift frees us of responsibility.
Money is different. Money is void. It gains meaning only after it has been spent on an object. So then, we are forced to ask: Is the value of a gift found in the intention of the giver?
Is Free Cash Really Helping?
Being homeless can’t be fun or enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination. You own nothing, absolutely nothing. Your bed is pavement, and your sustenance is borrowed rather than earned.
Faced with such dire straights one would think money is the perfect solution. However, money is only useful in the hands of those with a plan, and unfortunately planning is tough when you have hit rock bottom. Where do you begin? And with what resources do you start?
Let’s say a homeless person is able to collect $100 in donations over the course of a week. With this amount of money they are faced with an array of choices: food, clothing, shelter. But what if desperation has led them to the path of drugs? What if they have learned that existence can be muted, toned down, and made that much more numbingly comfortable through the use of certain psychoactive substances? And what if their substance of choice happens to be so engrossing that its acquisition becomes of greater importance than eating or maintaining cleanliness? What then is the use of money, if not for the continuation of self-destruction?
So How Can I Really Help?
The first step is to admit that giving money to homeless people isn’t helping anybody.
The second step is to realize that with a concrete plan, and with a community of support, anybody can get out of homelessness.
The third step is to realize that as a passerby there is only so much you can do to help.
As a passerby, the greatest help you can give to the homeless is the gift of food or shelter. Take the homeless to get some real, warm, tasty food. Real is the key word here. The benefit of giving real food rather than money is that you leave the situation knowing you’ve made a concrete difference in an individual’s life, even if just for a day.
In terms of providing shelter you have two choices: if you feel the homeless individual is in immediate danger, it is recommended you call 911 or visit a local police station. If the matter isn’t as pressing, or if you would like to have access to an entire list of shelters, I’d recommend using the internet as a resource.
A great site for just this purpose is Artists Helping Children.
But…
If you really get a kick out of giving away your hard-earned money, I encourage you to donate to the Andrew Blanco Fund which has been set up to advance my personal goals and desires. I am not homeless, and your money will not be used to buy food, obtain shelter, or purchase anything that is of fundamental importance to the human condition.
Together we can make a difference.
Image Used in this Post
Retired Homeless Fisherman image courtesy of Flickr user pedrosimoes7 published under CC license.
About the Author
November 19th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Rineberg loves giving money to homeless people.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I haven’t done it in years, but after this well written piece I don’t think I will again. Andrew great post.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I have often given money and I think I will continue to do so. Though I have also bought a meal and a few other things for a homeless person. The thing I think you are missing here though is that some people are homeless and adrift by choice and are not interesting in your ideas of a plan to change that.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Great point Ray. That is one serious problem in resolving the issue of homelessness.
Should one feel obligated to help somone who can’t/won’t be helped? How do you differentiate between a person down on their luck and someone who is homeless by choice?
November 20th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Jack & Ray,
You differentiate “homeless by choice” vs. “homeless by force” by actually engaging in a conversation with the individual.
Just giving money away, you’ll never ever know the truth of that person’s situation.
I advocate engaging the homeless in conversation rather than just giving them cash. If during that conversation they ask for food go help em get food. If they are sick go find them the help they need.
And, Ray, if you find out they don’t want any help and they like their lifestyle…then so be it. Let them be.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Ray you’ve got me thinking….
It’s interesting that the choice to be homeless in a city can only come about because of the fact that city-dwellers hand out money to people on the street. If nobody gave out money to the homeless, I doubt any would choose to spend their homelessness in cities.
I think they’d go off into the wilderness where they would have a better chance of getting food.
If I ever went homeless, I’d choose the wilderness for my home and learn some real self-sufficiency…there’s something appealing about that kind of raw freedom.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Andrew,
Were it not for my pathetic desire to “acquire stuff” I would absolutely do just that!
November 21st, 2008 at 12:15 am
This is what happens when you give money to the homeless.
November 21st, 2008 at 9:34 am
…”I don’t have change!!!”
November 21st, 2008 at 9:53 am
Obama supporters? (sorry, I couldn’t help it)
November 21st, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Ray & Andrew,
The Blog, Homeless Tales, is all about deciding to be homeless by choice. There is some really interesting stuff there too.
December 20th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
There are some good points raised in this post but also some issues.
I don’t personally like panhandling and never give money, only food and vouchers. If you do decide to hand over cash then it is theirs and they are free to spend it as they see fit whether that be on food or narcotics. No one likes to be told what they should or should not spend their money on.
‘Step two’ might be true were community support always available and accessible. Unfortunately it isn’t. Some homeless persons, particularly those with mental illnesses, need a higher level of care and assistance in order to navigate the processes involved. We are nowhere near being able to provide that in all cases as yet.
Although there may be exceptions, very few truly choose a life on the streets. Those that appear to often do so due to a lack of suitable alternatives. They may prefer to brave the cold over a shelter for fear for their safety, exposure to drugs/alcohol, preclusion of a pet, lack of facilities to store belongings and many other reasons. How would you like to live in a homeless shelter? With limited alternatives it is hardly surprising that many ‘choose’ to live on the streets.
December 21st, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Matt, you raise a great point about homeless shelters not being an ideal place to stay. Perhaps there needs to be some sort of policy put in place to raise the standards for homeless shelters.
While this post addresses some actions we can take on an individual level, the fact remains that the best help the homeless can receive would be more attention from our government.
Poverty needs to become a top priority for the new Obama administration. With the economy in shambles, and unemployment on the rise, I wouldn’t be surprised if we started seeing more and more cases of homelessness.