This Facebook friend of mine shared
this photograph with the prerequisite expressions of sympathy to join
small army of heartfelt comments...
“Why don't they stop spending money
on the military and help the homeless?” one commenter asked.
“F...ing government! They have to DO something!” Blah, Blah,
Blah...
You know, I can understand these
sentiments. I had an argument which turned into a less heated
discussion with one person on Facebook over this issue. I pretty
much expected the reaction. My attitude about the whole thing isn't
what most people would expect, and, at first, it certainly wasn't
welcome.
I've posted about this kind of thing
before, but this so drives my point home it isn't funny. My attitude
is bred of more experience than I care to remember or write about.
When you are a woman, and you have
small children, there is NO END to the amount of help available to
you!
Tri
Valley Haven, Shepherd's
Gate, Bay
Area Rescue and more are all available locally, and there are
organizations across the country that will help a mother with
children. They'll get them into lodgings, help her get a job, give
them child care... cripes... if you ask them, they might even wipe
your nose for you!
Let me tell you what it is you're
looking at in this photograph.
You are looking at a mother using her
small children to collect free money. I've already posted about how
people
flying signs here in the valley can get $200 in a day. That's
about $22 an hour if they're actually sitting on the curb for eight
hours. How lucrative do you think it is to sit with your kids when a
man flying a sign by himself can get that much money in a day?
And before you decide to condemn me
for what I'm telling you, consider this: is the woman in the
photograph homeless at all? There are more than a few fake homeless
people out there... why? $22 an Hour!
If nothing else, child labour law
should apply here. She's not even holding her own sign, for crying
out loud... she's making her kids do it!
Folks, what you're looking at is
child abuse exercised with greed as the motive.
I carry food packets/gift cards in my car to give to anyone who shows a need. After reading this it occurs to me that I've never given food or money to a mom with her kids on the street. I also feel turned off by people who have a dog tied up beside them as it strikes me as greedy. Thank you, Christian, for validating my intuition on this.
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