What goes through your mind...?

Question

When you see a homeless person? I can't help but think how blessed I truly am.

Answer 1

"how sad" and I wonder what must have happened in their life that brought them to their predicament. Did they just give up?

Answer 2

I don't live in a country where homeless people are a common sight, but we do have our share of old and disabled beggars. Can't say I feel any more blessed seeing these folks on the streets...but I usually spare whatever change I have at the moment. For whatever reason, I think that if I ever went to America and saw a hobo, I'd buy and share a pizza with him. o_O

When I went back to Hong Kong during a family trip however, I do recall seeing old women literally kowtowing to the rush of commuters for money. At the time, I wondered if the government was doing anything to help them, and feeling just a stab of anger and pity for these women. On reflection, it is a rather sad thing to see - I can only try to empathize with how it might be to live on the fringes of society, exposed to all the dangers of this hard world; to have your pride and dignity trodden to dust in exchange for survival.

Answer 3

I get a mixture of emotions when I see a homeless person. Like you, I feel blessed and lucky. But I also wonder what is it that leads a person to detach themselves from society, their friends, their family, their life as we know it. I know that some homeless people have drug and drink problems, but there are also a great many tragic stories behind homeless people. I once saw this program on HBO that followed the people that live in the subway tunnels in NY and one story in particular touched me. There was this guy who used to be a subway train driver. He had a home, a wife and a son. One day, some woman picked his train to jump under to commit suicide. He could not stop in time and he ran her over. This incident plagued him so much that he completely dropped out of society. One day he convinced himself that he was a burden on his family and that they would be better off without him; he just walked out the door and never went back.

So when I see homeless people I feel blessed but I also say a prayer that they may make peace with themselves and reconnect with society.

Answer 4

I really feel bad for them and wish I can do more.
If I know their not a drug addict or a drinker I give
a few dollars. I try to help the old homeless
people, the young homeless ones can still find a
job if they choose to and the old homeless
people can't get a job because companies don't
like to hire anyone that's over 55 years old.

Answer 5

Dude omg........... theres good homeless people and Bad ones What ive been wanting to do is kinda of get my ideal out there to find 3 different bums/homeless and put them on a sort of reality show kinda...... like each get there one seperate job appartment and so on and at the end who ever makes the most money at there job .... he or she gets to keep the job and wins 100,000 dollars, a new car and a new begining in there life ..... the other losers gets to keep the job if he or she want to, but dont get the 100,000 dollars and the new car ... you konw something like that.........

Answer 6

I wonder how much the home they are living in is worth compared to mine. Recently, a panhandler was beat up in Kansas City. He got a private room at the hospital, as he had very good insurance and was living in a $200,000 home.

I've taken many of them home, in my taxi, to apartment building that are nicer that what I've lived in. In a Canada city, the panhandlers sued to be reimbursed $100 a day for lost income when a film company needed the use of the downtown streets for a movie shoot.

So what do I think, not much.

Answer 7

I think... "that could be me. It's just random chance that I had access to an education and a happy childhood while he probably did not."
Society should really be more open to helping this people and give them a chance to get back on their feet.
Of course, the rich don't want to pay taxes and instead want us to accept the fact that we live in a class society where we are all pretty much stuck in the socioeconomic position we were born into.
It does not have to be this way.

Answer 8

My heart goes out to them. I could not imagine having to live life as a homeless person.

Answer 9

Since I have worked with the homeless population in the past, I think of all of the resources in our community available to them. If I have the time, I stop and make them aware of these resources. Most of them know already.

Answer 10

I think of how blessed I am and also it bothers me when they stand out on the side of the road, begging for money when they could go to a shelter and get help or something like that. or you see they smoking or with a six pack of beers. I feel sorry for them, but then I don't

Answer 11

I wonder what happened to them to put them in that awful situation... and how they say most people are only 2 paychecks away from being homeless, and I hope that I'm lucky enough to keep my head above water.