I was outside of my office in San Francisco for roughly 20 minutes today and how many times was I asked for money? AT LEAST 10.
When I first moved to this city, I thought a lot about the homeless and the difficulty of their lives and I felt pretty damn crappy/guilty every time I had to turn down a begger. Now I just get pissed.
Some of these money-seekers are pretty ferocious. Today, one guy DEFINITELY invaded my personal space, following me with his outstretched hand despite my pretending not to notice him and keeping a speedy pace to maintain distance. Grrrrr.
Have I become insensitive to the plight of the homeless? Or have I simply had enough of being asked for money (probably because I'm a young, sympathetic looking woman)? Now and again, I explain to the people requesting funds that I am asked at least 7 times a day for money and if I gave in to every plea, I'd be broke. They don't tend to like my argument - especially the ones who talk to themselves (roughly 50%).
Thursday, July 21, 2005
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6 comments:
I feel ya J.Po. I felt much the same way when I first moved to the big city. But now I don't feel bad at all in either ignoring them or just saying "No" and walking past without slowing. Maybe it's easier because I'm a guy (so they usually just move onto the next person) but it does bother me a little that all the beggars have blunted my heretofore sharp sense of empathy. But I just get tired of being hit up all the time.
Regardless, I've never been approached that many times in a day before. I think you've got it worse than I do here.
There's a guy on State St, profiled in the Isthmus a few months ago, that prides himself on panhandling creatively - "spare change for my girlfriend's boobjob?" "Anything you could donate to help a guy buy some wooden leg polish? Arrrr?" "Artificial snow fund drive" "Civil war vet, just trying to get by"
I never give him money, but I appreciate the effort.
Even though I haven't lived there in almost four years, I still carry my SF 'anti-beggar bubble' around with me. A few weeks ago I was walking with OleNel and a guy asked us for money. Ole - the pastor's son that he is - actually stops to talk to the guy and apologize profusely for not having anything to give him. Meanwhile, I do my usual walking by/ignoring and have to back-track when I realize that Ole is not following me.
I think one of the things that bothers me most is that even though I dress and act like someone who would have some money to spare, I'm really basically living paycheck-to-paycheck (and sometimes not even that, as evidenced by my credit card debt). Even though I know my life is not nearly as bad as a homeless person's or even someone who has little chance of leaving poverty, I get annoyed when people assume I can afford to give more than I already do. I actually kind of yelled at a DCCC fundraiser the other day when they called - "NO! I REALLY DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY!"
I forgot to say: "You callin' me crazy?!?! YOU callin' ME crazy?!?! I'LL SHOW YOU CRAZY! Boogedy-boogedy-boo!"
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