I am aware that one homeless man chooses to sit on a crate in the Woodhaven Blvd. subway station. He has a cardboard sign that sits between his feet, but I never take the time to read what it says. One day though, I had an extra slice of pizza and offered it to this man. I knew he would be hungry but how quickly he had taken it surprised me for some reason. It seemed like with a blink of an eye, the slice had disappeared from my hands. That split second of my life really made me appreciate all the little things that I am blessed with.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
According to ysop.org, each year there are about 100,000 New Yorkers that experience homelessness. When I first read that statistic, I was shocked, but then as I contemplated on how many homeless people I see each day riding our trains, this number made a bit more sense to me. My commute from home to CCNY is about an hour, therefore I spend two hours each day on a train. In those two hours, I usually encounter about three or four homeless people begging for money. I was taught not to give money to those who asked for it, because there is always that possibility that they would use it to fuel an addiction. Though many times I am not willing to offer cash, I am always willing to offer any extra food that I may have.
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I've given food to homeless people before as well. Most of the time I choose to ignore them, sometimes I'm busy rushing to school/work, and sometimes I'm afraid that they may do something to me, as horrible as that sounds.
ReplyDeleteI'm a sucker if a homeless person has an animal though. Yes, some may use the dog/cat as a gimmick to get more money, but as an animal lover, I see the companionship they have longed for their whole life. Animals are so loyal and it's always touching to see how they stick together.
Anyway, I was on my way to work, and I saw a homeless man with a dog at rockefeller center. I've seen them before, but I don't know what went through me today. I gave him 2 dollars, then went back and gave him 2 bananas I knew I wasn't going to eat that day. He lit up so quickly and swallowed the food so fast! The next day I actually had extra food to take with me to give to him, but he wasn't there :-/ Its the thought that counts though.
I can relate so much to this post because I feel really bad when i'm on the train and I see homeless people begging for money or food. many times tho I must admit I do get a bit annoyed but I know that if they had a choice they wouldn't be asking me for anything. It takes a lot of courage to do that and it makes me appreciate what i have a lot more.
ReplyDeleteI can completely identify with you not wanting to give money to any homeless person. I actually had a very negative experience providing a homeless person with food. I bought the person a sandwich and they took it back to the register and tried to get the money for it. This completely changed my desire to help. I finally moved on from the experience because there are many people who actually could use the extra food. Some people truly are hungry and struggling without an addiction.
ReplyDeleteIts a shame of how much this persists in our city and it makes us think of how god we have it even tho we might forget about it. It's always upsetting to me to see to because i encounter it every day. Just to wonder how each one has there own story to lead them to this mess. I personally give food to someone in need rather than money for the obvious reason. i will say tho that there was moment when I had one person wake me up and ask me for money. I did not have either money or food and i told her that. she cursed me out and said to me that I liar. It think on what experience she must've had to make her think like that now.
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