Sense and Nonstuff
Oct. 13th, 2004 10:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dennyWhat if the whole world could vote in the U.S. presidential election? (yoinked from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katyha)
Update: while we're on that subject: how you could influence the US presidential election (yoinked fromdenari)
Poi at Spitz last night was very productive... I figured out three or four things that I've been working on or looking at - although I'm not sure if I'll retain them all - I usually prefer to take in maybe two new things at a time and get those smoothed out before I try to pick up the next thing. Still, I came out of it feeling happy, so that's a result.
On the way there, I bought a sausage roll at a Tube station (live dangerously, eh). It wasn't that great, so I gave the last of it to a homeless guy's dog, which turned its nose up and let it fall on the street, where it was duly ignored. Makes me wonder what I just ate, if a street dog doesn't want any. Anyway, I felt guilty for feeding his dog and not him, so I decided to do my good deed for the day - I went into the McD he was sitting against and got him a double-cheeseburger and chips, and a cup of tea. I wasn't sure if he gets dozens of McD meals a day and would be less than impressed, but if he does then he's a really good actor - I never want to look that grateful for a McD meal in my life, thanks.
There are a lot of homeless guys around the Liverpool Street area, and I'm a bit of a sucker for homeless guys asking for change. I usually set myself a strict rule of not giving out any, because otherwise I'd be giving it to anyone who asked, and I'm not quite that well off that I can spare everything that's in my pockets on a daily basis. I buy the Big Issue whenever I see someone selling one I don't have (and I do check for vendor badges first), and I figure that's the safest route for being a good guy. I used to only give money to homeless guys who weren't obviously drunk/otherwise munged, but then there's this bit of dialogue from a book I read recently:
"It won't help - he'll only spend it on alcohol or drugs"
"And? That's what I'd do with it if I was him"
It's not like I can sneer at anyone who uses drugs to displace themself from a life they don't want to deal with right now - I've been there. A bit trickier to comment on the issue of whether the drugs got them into the situation in the first place, but even if they did - they're there now. Not giving them some change is extremely unlikely to stop them being a homeless drug addict, as far as I can see. It might stop them getting drunk/high tonight, but like I said, who am I to say they shouldn't be doing that?
katyha)Update: while we're on that subject: how you could influence the US presidential election (yoinked from
denari)Poi at Spitz last night was very productive... I figured out three or four things that I've been working on or looking at - although I'm not sure if I'll retain them all - I usually prefer to take in maybe two new things at a time and get those smoothed out before I try to pick up the next thing. Still, I came out of it feeling happy, so that's a result.
On the way there, I bought a sausage roll at a Tube station (live dangerously, eh). It wasn't that great, so I gave the last of it to a homeless guy's dog, which turned its nose up and let it fall on the street, where it was duly ignored. Makes me wonder what I just ate, if a street dog doesn't want any. Anyway, I felt guilty for feeding his dog and not him, so I decided to do my good deed for the day - I went into the McD he was sitting against and got him a double-cheeseburger and chips, and a cup of tea. I wasn't sure if he gets dozens of McD meals a day and would be less than impressed, but if he does then he's a really good actor - I never want to look that grateful for a McD meal in my life, thanks.
There are a lot of homeless guys around the Liverpool Street area, and I'm a bit of a sucker for homeless guys asking for change. I usually set myself a strict rule of not giving out any, because otherwise I'd be giving it to anyone who asked, and I'm not quite that well off that I can spare everything that's in my pockets on a daily basis. I buy the Big Issue whenever I see someone selling one I don't have (and I do check for vendor badges first), and I figure that's the safest route for being a good guy. I used to only give money to homeless guys who weren't obviously drunk/otherwise munged, but then there's this bit of dialogue from a book I read recently:
"It won't help - he'll only spend it on alcohol or drugs"
"And? That's what I'd do with it if I was him"
It's not like I can sneer at anyone who uses drugs to displace themself from a life they don't want to deal with right now - I've been there. A bit trickier to comment on the issue of whether the drugs got them into the situation in the first place, but even if they did - they're there now. Not giving them some change is extremely unlikely to stop them being a homeless drug addict, as far as I can see. It might stop them getting drunk/high tonight, but like I said, who am I to say they shouldn't be doing that?
