The article I read was “Charity Means You Don’t Pick and
Choose” written by Patricia O’Hara and published in the Newsweek. In this article a mom, dad and son pass by a homeless guy
and he asked if they could spare anything. The son was five years old and has
never encountered a homeless person before. They gave him a dollar and the
doggie bag of leftover food from the restaurant and the homeless guy thanked
them. At the same moment a group of people walked by and barked out “it’d be
better if they got a job.” The dad did
have doubts on what the guy would do with the money but was hoping that he
taught his son about the principles of charity that he holds. Most people feel
more comfortable fiving anonymously like clothing drives or to a Santa Claus
ring a bell to help people in need. A
few years later the mom and her son were
walking in New York City as a thin, drugged out young ,an approached them
asking them for money. They passed by
him but the son wondered why they didn’t give to him. The mom says” that they
didn’t have time and they can’t give to everyone” and the sons says “yeah I
wouldn’t give money to people like that.” This showed her son that it i
acceptable to classify people as deserving and undeserving poor.
I have come across homeless people when I have traveled.
Everyone has different reasons for being homeless but me personally I like to
give anonymously. If I give to a person on the street I would buy them food,
not give money because you don’t know where it is going. I think that everyone
should earn for themselves not rely on other people to give.
I have also seen many homeless people when we come out of Target field after a twins game. I will always remember the one time we came out of Target field and went around the corner and me and my family saw a homeless person digging through the garbage for food. My mom then went and gave him the rest of the the bag of popcorn she had. This is what I always think of when I see a homeless person. I believe also that you should not give them money but something like food that can be put to good use.
ReplyDeleteI believe giving charity to those less fortunate is a great thing to do. The first time I learned about poverty and the homeless would have been when i was about six years old at Venice Beach. I do not remember if I ended up giving something or not, but I remember the long conversation. Basically the conclusion of what I learned from that event was that you should never judge a book by its cover.
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