The Homeless

Are you like most people and blank homeless people when they approach to ask for funds? Do you pretend to be on the phone or put your headphones on just as they come into view? I'm not putting a guilt trip on you for having the societal values of a lemon; I do it too. But it is interesting the conversations had when you do take a second to listen. And I'm not talking about hearing their life story or how they became stuck in a rut (that's for people with stronger moral fibre than I), I'm talking about the reasons homeless cite for needing money.

You can admit it, when you're asked for money your ingrained cynicism immediately ticks the drugs and booze column. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. The other day I had an Aboriginal lady ask me for 40 cents. 40 cents? I thought if you're going to ask for money why not ask for a little more. But she had a reason - it was to pay for her Aunt's bus ticket. Fair enough, I have no reason to question that. In the same spot a week earlier a man was requesting cash but was not giving a reason. Maybe this lack of information is a telltale sign you're funding a life of alcohol and substance abuse.

The other way rough sleepers make it known they're in need of assistance is with signs. Always well written block letters, somehow at odds with the person beside it. Ken Johnson, a 52-year old living institution who resides on the corner of George and Market Sts in Sydney's CBD, changes his message occasionally but there's always one constant - "Not for drugs". He says it's to help a friend who is in need of a liver transplant. He sits there, all worldly possessions surrounding him, for well over one hundred hours a week and at an estimate earns AU$50,000 per year yet still cannot afford to move off the streets.
Many years ago I was asked by a man for a dollar. I politely declined. He insulted me before responding: "You'd give it to a bus driver!".  I thought to myself, "Yes I would because he takes me places. He provides a service. He participates in society. If you want my help that's not the right way about it". But I've since considered his statement was unwittingly prophetic. Many of us only give out of necessity, not out of kind-spirited volition. If we're honest with ourselves, maybe these people will be too.