drugs_make_it_worse fuffle i can't give that homeless man 10p not if he is going to buy Heroin with it, tell me how i can help him then ? sweeties aren't gunna help. what it the right thing to do ? he smacks himself, cos he was sad before, when he tried it for the first time, maybe no one loved him ? so why should he love himself, maybe he doesn't enen know what love is, so he ingects. some things are too sad. love is a drug, drugs are not love. 070613 ... gja love is a drug. like every other emotion. its a swirl, a mix, a cocktail of chemical reactions. love is for sale...be it in plastic bags at your dealer, or an afternoon in the park with faces. what you feel, my friend, is a complex combination of chemicals. remeber that always and you will enjoy it more. 070613 ... ioata enjoy acoke instead! 070630 ... thieums The world is weird enough anyway... 090211 ... Strideo I recently discovered that the pair of shabby panhandlers (not sure if they're homeless, probably shelter regulars) I usually see around my neighborhood are crack addicts when I overheard a conversation they were having in the alley with some well dressed fellow. I distinctly remember the male of the pair saying "Yeah, I smoke crack whenever I can get it and I'm never satisfied. You could give me a lot and I'd smoke a lot, as much as I could smoke and it still wouldn't make me satisfied." That's pretty sad really. I listened to them for a minute or two but I needed to go to sleep and I didn't much like the nature of the conversation and there was no way I could any rest with them right outside my window where I could hear every word. I put on my shoes and grabbed my keys and went out to my apartment building's back gate. When I opened the gate and turned to look at the trio outside my window (only about ten feet away now) I just raised my eyebrows and before I could even say a word the female of the panhandler pair said "We at you window?" and I said "Yeah" then she said "Common guys let's go". When I got back into my bedroom I could still hear their voices but muffled now by the distance they had put between themselves and my window. Good enough. I could get to sleep. I remembered that I had given them a couple of bucks on one occasion. I don't give out money to panhandlers often. For one thing I rarely carry cash or even coins but I also believe it is an enabling factor but I guess I was feeling generous and they had such a pathetic look in their eyes. I will, however, gladly give any person who asks me for food some food. I remember one occasion where a friend and I were leaving a restaurant with leftovers in hand when a shabby looking man came up to us and asked for change. I told him that I didn't have any and he began to walk away then he turned and asked if I was going to keep my leftovers. I immediately offered them to the man who was grateful to have them. I wonder now how knowing for certain that the pair of shabby panhandlers are drug addicts will affect my decision should they ever ask me again for change. ... 090211 ... unhinged i had an enlightening conversation with ever_dumbening about giving homeless addicts money. he brought up the point of how unimaginably horrible it must be to live on the street with an addiction. is it really our place to judge that? shouldn't we help how and where we can? mean bums on the other hand are very off_putting. being homeless in milwaukee in the winter surely must suck, but after getting mugged by a crazy crackhead in ohio, i have learned better. 090211 ... . I see myself and everyone that I have ever loved in the eyes of the homeless and deprived. Being negatively afflicted by alcohol, mental illness, drugs or any other accessory that accompanies and renders one homeless does not mean another human being does not have basic needs. I hope that life shares with you more compassion and understanding. 090211 ... In_Bloom Isn't that what most people see and why they try so hard not to see into the eyes of the despaired? 090211 ... Strideo Believe me, I am quite concerned with how difficult the life that those two lead must be. I'm sure I can't quite imagine it. I guess there is that feeling that a few bucks or coins aren't going to change anyone's life but then I'm thinking about the big picture and they might just be trying to fulfill some need that is right at hand. That's something to keep in mind I guess. I know what a burden a serious addiction can be and how it can lead to increasingly serious problems. I'd rather not contribute to any such addiction but I feel no puritanical need to punish people who do suffer from such addictions. It wouldn't matter if it were a homeless person or a friend, if I knew they wanted money for their drug addiction I provide it. I suppose that is a judgment but it's only a judgment as to whether I part with my resources for something I don't approve of. I think that is a judgment anyone has a right to make but it isn't always so simple. Often it boils down to an issue of trust in a situation where making an informed judgment isn't really possible. I think that giving money directly to panhandlers is often a means of allowing the dysfunctional to maintain a niche and so I'd rather give comfort in some other way if possible such as giving clothing, food, or public transportation tickets. Anyone who says is that I am without compassion is simply wrong. I truly do want what is best for these people and no one can rightly say otherwise. ... 090211 ... Strideo *if I knew they wanted money for their drug addiction I WOULDN'T provide it. oops, there was an error in the blathe above this one. ... 090211 ... mahayana I would like to share what ruminates through my essential nature on this sensitive subject. The fact that we are willing to have an open dialogue with each other - illuminates my soul. So, thank you. Maybe when (.) said that they wished that life had shared with you more compassion and understanding that it did not necessarily mean you are without. It could have simply meant they wished you more compassion and understanding in your life, as in from life. It could have also simply meant they wished you more compassion and understanding in your life than what you are currently expressing. Such a statement could be accepted in several different ways. I don't think necessarily that (.) meant it in a negative way. But that is just my intuition telling me so. When it comes down to it, for me, this is the main deciding factor that urges me to give... The fact that sometimes the dysfunctional are merely products of an arduous life. Sometimes this includes such horrific circumstances that many of us have not had the challenge of enduring. (Think: years of incest, rape, abandonment, abuse, torture, etc.) In a perfect world it would be wonderful if everyone could overcome these encumbrances and participate as healthy components of society, but for many these issues remain as persistent and infected open wounds. I'm reminded of the tortured rhesus monkeys from the "pit of despair"/"vertical chamber" experiments. Just like those monkeys many people do not ever recover from such atrocities mentioned above. They forever remain broken. It is especially hard to try to endure life when the people that are supposed to care and love us end up being the ones inflicting us with the most pain. I think it is unfortunate that such devices as drug addiction and alcohol can be the only sources of escape and happiness for some people. I wish for them a safer alternative. In my own years of pain and suffering I have decided that I am fortunate in ways that many do not have the chance to be. Because the compassion that I share now with others has been birthed from all the distressing events in my life. Some people do not have an overabundance of compassion since life has mostly been kind to them. And as much as I pull away from family and friends because I myself am a broken human being and how I always have to try so desperately to connect with other human beings - it still literally breaks my heart to know that there are lonely people out there on the cold streets that too have been damaged by life. In fact I am in tears right now composing this because knowing that others are suffering - bruises my own spirit. When I have a few dollars in my pocket I give freely and try not to judge. Not because of an image I want to uphold in public, not because I want to get in heaven someday, not because I made a judgment call that someone appeared worthy, but merely because another soul is in need and suffering. If that money wasn't truly used for food or gas as was stated and was instead used to temporarily escape some sort of discomfort ... yes, I would feel disappointed for having been lied to, but who better than the individual themselves to know what they truly need to live their life. Each of us has the right to chose the gifts of which and to whom we share. But when faced with these decisions myself, on whether to give or not to give, I ask myself if I could deny a person help when they are turning to me for it. I personally can't. These words of mine are not saying that my way is the right way, because these are difficult and far-reaching decisions that we have to make in the split seconds that come after, "can you spare some change?". [yes i can - so i shall] 090211 ... homeless But I still need to feel loved. 090211 ... alex trebek I hope that life shares with you more bagels and coffee. 090211 what's it to you? who go blather from