just give it hell may be the one to make a diff in his life

Only if I feel they truly need it. Most of the panhandlers I run into don't really need the money, but are just looking for a way to make easy money.

But, if I can tell they are truly in hard times, sure, I'll help them out.

I heard a story about a man who had lost two legs in the war. He was a lawyer. He had prosthetic legs during the week and practiced as a lawyer. On week ends to supplement his life style he put on rags, took of his legs and panhandled. He said he made more in a weekend than he did as a lawyer during the week.

Panhandling is an art.

But you can usually tell the real people in need by looking into their eyes.

hell im in the wrong line of work

Hello Johnny....

am i in trouble?

No. I would give ciggies if asked or buy a sandwich or a coffee but I would not give money.

I have given a couple of times...

Once to a young man sitting behind a convenience store by a highway. He didn't ask for anything. But, I had a "feeling". went into the store and got my stuff and got a seperate bag with a sandwich, chips, pack of smokes, a lighter and two tall boys (beers) and threw in $20 to the bag and walked over and handed it to him. I could smell that kid from 10' away and he was sunburned like a new penny. He looked in the bag then looked up at me...I told him.."Someday do something good for someone bro".

Another time, a guy at work was in real financial crisis. I was making a run to McD's...he didn't want anything cause he was broke. I new the guy was depressed and we had a long weekend coming up. I picked him up a bag of $1 burgers and threw $40 in the bag with the napkins. I gave him the bag and a couple minutes later he came over to my forklift...I told him..."The bad times WILL pass dude. There is a case of beer in the bed of your truck...do something good for someone when you can." (he is now a friend and doing well)

But, there are ones I DON'T give to...

The guy with no legs will cuss you out if you don't give him something...I threatened to throw his worthless @$$ out of the wheel chair next time he talked to me like that.

The bum who makes a big show of giving god thanks for each handout...buys malt liquor and lottery tickets and is always in new clothes.

The guy whose pitch is "Give me $20!"...I told..."Work on your sales pitch and get the f*** out of my face"

I give whatever I can give to whomever asks. I know it's blind trust but I trust they will get whatever it is that they need.

Great! Got a mom or sister I can borrow for a few minutes?

heheheheh

For some reason this has been happening to me lately. I always give a little something to a person in need.

All brothers Krupa but you'd love my Mom!

Moms are sooooooo hot!

It is more frequent here to as of late with the economy. The thing to remember (or I like to tell myself) though is there is a big difference between being "in need" and being "in want".

We have a lot of the former everywhere, but more so of the latter.

I don't often carry cash with me.

I do the same.

I customarily give to beggars. I give one all my change, the first one to ask, and the rest are declared sore losers. Downtown, for instance. I get off the bus, I get drained by the first guy (within seconds of getting off the bus) and then the rest get pissed off. Before my next bus shows up, I have pissed off at least twenty more beggars, men and women alike.

If I have to refuse for lack of funds, I smile at them, with a big, honest, bright smile, raise my arms to the side and lift my shoulders.

Sometimes it can be embarrasing. The typical is what happened last night. A guy accosted me in the exit of the local supermarket. I gave him the money, he introduced himself, and conversed with me. He was a drunk, and he was drunk. He talked loud, of stupid, trivial things, and he was so drunk he expected people to believe the things he said, or if the words were true, to be impressed by them, and if they were neither, to be amazed by them. Like how he uses his toothbrush to dial a telephone.

I was friendly with him, as I packed up my bicycle's trailer with my purchases from the grocery store. He was too chummy, and I bet people did not know the difference. I was still rather friendly with him, because I don't give a flying buttonhole what people think.

What irked me is that twice I could not force a bag in, and he did not come over to help. Of course he was too drunk, but for me that was no excuse. I did you a favour, you bbbb, now why do you keep talking to me, and not help me in my struggle? Of course I can see you are incapable, but that's no excuse. You are incapable of even noticing I need help? I believe that, too, but it's still no excuse.

I was angry.

And peoople around figgered I was another beggard.

Read my first paragraph again, please. I give money away coz I get it too, without having to work for it. I consider my money to have come by the kindness of others. So on what moral ground could I say no to being kindly to others, myself?

But I still resent this. The beggars get free money, too. So why do I give them mine?

For one, I think they need it more than me. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I don't date wanton women, I don't gamble. These people do at least two things on the list. These people really need the money, and I give it, coz I used to be a smoker and I know what nicotine-hunger feels like. I feel for the heroine addicts, I don't get jealous of my money going to them. Even with my money they have a horrible life, and if that's what it takes, I like to help them. I see no difference between being hungry for food or shelter, or being hungry for heroine.

Furthermore I don't pay taxes; this is my voluntary tax system. I give back this way. Plus I save a BUNDLE every year on tax preparation software.

For another thing, I give the first to ask all of my change; then I enjoy, yes ENJOY the squirming or the visible extreme inward anger I cause in all other subsequent askers.

This is a funny world, you know. I live in funny worlds. Not just the real world, but the world between my ears. Haha.

I believe every word of this.

I used to know a hooker who turned her back on life in the real, respectable world because she suffered brain injury in a car accident. She changed. She did not use drugs. After five years of hard work, she reaped her own rewards: She bought a house in the most elegant neighbourhood in Toronto, the Post Road area, on Arjay drive. She populated it with 200 of her own cats and kittens. The house was sparsely furnished: two chairs, a mattress, and a TV set, but cat food and cat poo was evenly and generously scattered everywhere in the house.

I also know of a beggar who gave up his comfortable lifestyle to sell refridgeration equipment and deep freezers to Eskimos. Don't laugh, the temperatures go to plus 40-50 or even 60 degrees Fahrenheit even in the extreme north for a few days or weeks. So the meat goes bad. Meat is not abundant there. Yes, each kill yields huge amounts, but kills happen few and far between. So if you don't ice it, you go hungry in a few days, coz Eskimos eat raw meat, but not rotten raw meat.

The one-time beggar made a fortune with this, coz he was the first one to realize the need and also the first to market. It also came with off-cast sales, like gas or gasoline generators to power the fridges, etc.

This guy... I am telling you, had made love to all women in the north. In Eskimo life it is a real custom, not merely a hearsay, to share your wife with wanderers. The guy had more women in a week, than Wilt Chamberlaine. Or could potentially have had to, but he wasn't as energetic, so he would sometimes pass, only to come back to the place several weeks later to claim his rights.


And then there was the plumber from Kapuskasing, Kanada, who gave up his plumbing business and started his own preacher house. First he only got beggars and tramps, but he was a convincing talker, now he has his own ministry in, of all places, in Sweden. Don't tell anyone, but he is making money hand over fist, and as a befenit, he gets to screw all the tall, blonde, finely-skinned Swedish women in Sweden's second largest congregation in the capital. He told me, man, if it wasn't for this, I'd still be bending over backwards under dirty sinks, and turning pipe wrenches in awkward spaces.

i do

Well, then give out all the money you want to give out.