Woman approached me in store and asked for a dollar to buy a drink

[Liberal_in_LA]

It's about 100 degrees in the San Fernando Valley today. A woman approached me in the store and asked for a dollar for a drink. She said she was dehydrated and had no money. I said, bring it to the cash register and I'd pay for it along with my other stuff. She returned with a drink and a snack and said she'd put them both back if I told her to. As I paid for her stuff, she told me she works in care giving and only has 2 days per week and wasn't making it. She isn't making it on 2 days and asked me if knew where she could pick up more days. All the time she was talking to me she had her hand to the side of her face in attitude of despair. She was also embarrassed to have asked me to buy her the drink and snack.

sigh....:-( :-(

also...guy across the street has all his stuff out, selling it.

[uppityperson]

1. It sucks, we are all in this together.

[Divernan]

58. Brother can you spare a dime - song from the Great Depression

Everything old is new again. This is one of the saddest songs I've ever heard.

"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime," lyrics by Yip Harburg, music by Jay Gorney (1931)

They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob,
When there was earth to plow, or guns to bear, I was always there right on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead,
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?

Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower, up to the sun, brick, and rivet, and lime;
Once I built a tower, now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum,
Half a million boots went slogging through Hell,
And I was the kid with the drum!

Say, don't you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum,
Half a million boots went slogging through Hell,
And I was the kid with the drum!

Say, don't you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time.
Say, don't you remember, I'm your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?

The Back Story on this song:
Bing Crosby: Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
In 1929 E.Y.”Yip” Harburg was a co-owner of the Consolidated Electrical Appliance Company. He wrote poetry, which was sometimes published in the local newspapers. After the stock market crash Harburg was unemployed and $50,000 in debt. His high school and college friend, George Gershwyn introduced Harburg to composer Jay Gorney and the two went to work writing songs for a show Earl Carroll’s Sketchbook. Harburg and Gorney collaborated on several shows, including the 1932 production Americana, for which they wrote Brother Can You Spare A Dime. The song was recorded in 1932 by both Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby, as well as Al Jolson. The recordings were hits and became the soundtrack of the 1932 Presidential election, in which Franklin Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover.
Yip Harburg went on to write lyrics to many Broadway shows and Hollywood musicals. His best known work was The Wizard of Oz, for which he was the head screenwriter in addition to collaborating with Harold Arlen on all of the songs.


During the malaise of the 1970s stagflation, the New York Times asked Harburg to update "Brother" for a new age, and he responded with:

Once we had a Roosevelt
Praise the Lord!
Life had meaning and hope.
Now we're stuck with Nixon, Agnew, Ford,
Brother, can you spare a rope?

[csziggy]

80. A couple of versions of that song

Al Jolson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4yT0KAMyo

Bing Crosby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZHEkU__Ijw

[bonnieS]

102. there is a must see dvd

with the same title with lots of clips from the 30's and of Roosevelt and several versions of the song in the background.

[zehnkatzen]

115. All of us except the wealthy, of course. They're in it for themselves. n/t

[Wilber_Stool]

2. And they wonder why it takes six days to fill the pot............n/t

[PSPS]

3. Happens to me too

Just a few days ago, a young woman approached my car at the drive-thru. She pointed out to me what she wanted on the menu, so I bought it for her and handed it to her on the way out. I'm loath to give out cash, but I'll always buy food for someone.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. Bless you for helping

[emilyg]

52. Same here. I'll always buy

food for someone.

[DollyM]

105. I have noticed an increase in the men with the signs by the roadside . . .

We live off an Interstate and everyonce in a while there will be someone on the crossroads with one of those "will work for food" signs. I have noticed that there are now several different men and the spot is usually occupied every day now. They always have a dog too, I wonder about that. It would seem to be hard to have an "extra" mouth to feed. I guess it is for protection as well as companionship.

[Generic Other]

4. That is such a sad image

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. YES! perfect example of how she held her hand to her face

[Generic Other]

41. I was looking at this picture again wondering why she seemed so familiar

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_CijcaA9yq58/TDE7MT32m6I/AAAAAAAAGPo/ZwiwnvfJEfk/s1600/Freedom+of+Speech,+The+Saturday+Evening+Post,+February+20,+1943+huile+sur+toile.jpg

Seems like Norman Rockwell must have been moved by Margaret Bourke-White's image as well. She bears a striking resemblance to his painting of the young Lincolnesque man at the town meeting, doesn't she? Not many degrees of separation between Liberal in LA, a thirsty woman in the San Fernando Valley, the Okies of the Great Depression and the Lincoln born in a log cabin. We are all in it together!

[HillbillyBob]

51. I read the story of the lady in this picture

She went through a bad time, but things got better for her in a few years.
She got lucky and worked hard.
The pic is very expressive of hard times though.

What I fear that we are seeing is a return to the great depression, we thought so, so much that we bought a place out in the woods we can at least grow some of our food on though the off and on storms have flattened a lot and then the bugs and dry got a good bit more.
At least partner still has a job and I have my ssd that we can get by one. Not all the bills get paid every month.
I am seeing more and more people at street corners, I give when I can.
We are pretty close to the bone here.

I am afraid we are going to start seeing armed roving folks that try to take from others because they don't have...then again we have the rich taking from all of us.

I have been homeless 3 x.
Some on the other side who have never had to struggle day in and day out, say get a job!
My mom put me out when I came home from the navy saying that I was lazy and not looking hard enough. I was working one or two nights a week at a bar, cleaning, doing a dj gig what ever they needed done.
This was during runnyrayguns reign.
There were not any jobs there/then period.

I took some day labor, but after getting cheated a few times I stuck with trying to find a regular job.
Then ended up working electrical industrial construction for minimum wage and got 1 or 2 jobs working in restaurants.
Some nights I was a cook at one place and dishwasher at another.
Then I still had the construction job and went to work as an apprentice learning antique restoration so I did that as a side line too. To get into the construction job I lied about my experience, but I did also have a 2 yr degree in electronics. I could not get a job as an air traffic control man since they didn't want known fags then, even though I was trained.

[Duppers]

61. (hugs)

Just because.

[bettyellen]

90. i had just read that two generations later, her daughter is living in poverty too

[DissedByBush]

127. It just did not occur to me that people would do that

Hire a day laborer and not pay up at the end of the day.

It's just such an evil thing to do it didn't occur to me it's done. I generally can't come up with these underhanded, dishonest tricks. Everyone's a new one for me.

I guess I just suck at screwing people.

I would make a horrible politician.

[Erose999]

133. Happens a lot. Someone was recently telling me about a contractor

who would hire a crew of day laborers from a Home Depot parking lot on a Friday, pay them for that Friday and work them all week telling them there would be another payday the next Friday.

When the next Friday rolled around he would go to a different Home Depot and get a different crew. He would work the laborers all week and pay them for one day.

[DissedByBush]

136. And some hard-working men get to go home ...

and tell their families there's no money for food.

Sub-human scum, these contractors.

[Erose999]

137. I'll cosign that statement. The guy who told me about it is a self described "libertarian" and

the sonofabitch thought it was funny.

[DissedByBush]

140. Libertarian?

I thought that's all about government gets out of everything, contracts between people rule.

Well this was a contract between people, broken by the contractor.

Your guy is not libertarian, he's just a sick, to use your appropriate term, sonofabitch.

[Erose999]

141. Thats why I used the term self described, and quotation marks.

He rationalized his view by saying immigrants forfeit any rights when they cross the border illegally.

Kind of crazy for someone who considers himself to be a libertarian to state that human rights can be granted of absolved by borders and the governments that designate them, lol.

[blue sky at night]

5. I am glad you paid for her drink and snack.....

I usually give to anyone who asks, I don't care if they are lying or not.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. I feel lucky to have the resources to help... who knows how long that will last?

We could all be in the same boat

[Esra Star]

38. Sounds like more people need to know about

the LETS trading system.
The answer has to be to start local.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Exchange_Trading_Systems


Never, ever give up.


edit: missing word

[BobTheSubgenius]

77. I remember LETS starting up.

I thought it was a great idea then, and it's an even better one now, if possible.

My ex and her husband - with whom I'm great friends - live in the Comox Valley, a little way up the Island. Lovely area.

[Esra Star]

130. You're Canadian I'm Australian......

How do you make people in the US to grasp the concept of "local".
I think they are really ready for it.

Cheers

[Iggo]

10. +1

:thumbsup:

[tblue37]

40. I feel the same way. Once in December a man and woman

approached me outside a Walgreens. It was freezing, with freezing rain and fierce winds. They asked for money for gas for their car. I gave them all I had in my wallet--it was just a few dollars. Nowadays, with an ATM card, I don't carry much cash.

Later that day someone told me the couple probably used the money to buy booze. I said that if they needed booze so much that they would stand outside in that sort of weather to ask for money, then as far as I was concerned, they really did need it and were welcome to it.

Besides, a young woman I know who has fallen on hard times with her husband and 1-year-old baby actually was in a situation recently in which she was stranded halfway between work and home because she had no money to buy gas with. She had hoped that the little that was left in the tank would get her all the way to work and back, but since she works in a different city, she ran out before she got all the way back. She was forced to ask someone at a gas station to help her out with a few dollars for gas. In other words, I know for a fact that this does happen to people. Fortunately, the person she approached at the gas station was a motherly type like me, and she willingly helped my young friend, without worrying about whether she "deserved" to be helped.

[jwirr]

120. I never regret giving because I have a few rules that take care of

that: never give anything you are not willing to lose (that means that you can stop worrying about how they used the money - that is their problem) and do not give cash if you can help it. I worked in an area that had high alcoholism rates and that is where I learned to give this way. However, there is a difference today when so many are in trouble economically. Most truly are using the money to survive.

[elocs]

59. I care if they are lying because it hurts the truly needy.

In my city we have a professional beggar. Healthy looking, dressed good. In cold weather he leaves his warm coat on the other side of the street where he stands by the stoplight near the supermarket by the mall with his "please help" sign. This is about 3 miles out of town and so he takes a cab to get there.

What he does absolutely hurts the truly needy and they are the ones who deserve all the help they can get.

[Lost4words]

73. +1 nt

[Dirigo]

110. Helping those in despair

I will not just give someone who approaches me money simply because they tell me they need it. It has happened to many times before and it usually turns out to be a crack addict unaable to cope. I remember when I was working on Capitol Hill and upon enterring a nice hotel near Union Station, I was rushed by a beggar who asked for money to buy something to eat. I reached in my pocket and gave him all my loose change and kept walking. He looked at the change and screamed at me rushing me menacingly that it was only 75 cents and what did I expect he could buy to eat for 75 cents? The bellhop came to my aid and dispatched the beggar. If someone tells me they're hungry I will buy them something to eat and drink if at a cheap eats place, or I'd simply recommend the soup kitchen If they approach me for the money I tell them I don't have any money. One crack addict & accomplice approached my wife in a frenzy at the bank stating she needed $10 to buy gas for her car to get to her sick family member some distance away. My wife fell for it hook line and sinker and gave the scam artist $10. The following week the same drug addled bimbo appraoched my wife again at the bank and this time my wife confronted her and chased her to her waiting car getting a description and the license tag # for the police. They were picked up working the supermarket lot across the street. There used to be a mentally deranged woman, 40ish, working the median strip at a traffic light and I felt bad for her because she was so confused and mentally disabled she couldn't possibly get by as well as a man in such dire circumstances. She would tell us she was an Air Force veteran. She has probably been killed or died naturally from some disease or medical neglect because we haven't seen her for a couple years. Life is harsh for so many. Some bring it upon themselves and others are victims of circumstances they had no control over. We should all look on beggars differently and try to assess the situation. Scam artist are just that artists. A destitute family is quite another. Support agencies that support the needy like the House of Ruth or United Way, etc.

[japple]

112. I do, too, blue sky. It takes a lot of courage for some people to

ask for help, and it's not for me to judge them.

[Blue_Tires]

142. +1000

[Name removed]

144. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[david13]

6. If you thnk that's sad, I hope you people never find out about a

place called Africa.
dc

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. I know of the place. I donate to an org helping aids orphans on a monthly basis

[Generic Other]

13. Is there not room enough to feel sympathy for all who suffer?

Or must we have an escalating scale of sympathy? It is not a competition for compassion.

[dogday]

76. +1000

:thumbsup:

[SammyWinstonJack]

95. !!!

:thumbsup:

[Mad_Dem_X]

138. +1

[hfojvt]

14. I seem to remember hearing about that

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCca5mPMp9A

[Dappleganger]

24. Are you traveling to Africa to offer help in person?

Writing a check is a whole lot different.

Help always should begin and end with the people on our curb.

[hay rick]

62. The object of charity is to help the needy.

The object is not to see the relief or gratitude of the needy when they receive a pittance. So I don't think writing a check is "whole lot different." One of the real differences in writing a check is the sinking feeling that your offering is dwarfed by the need and the knowledge that your action considered in isolation is surely futile. Directly helping an individual, by contrast, provides immediate, visible relief and offers some positive reinforcement.

I believe that charity is grossly inferior to enlightened government action. Thanks to overpopulation and a brittle self-righteous capitalist set of values, we live in an age of astonishing avoidable poverty and misery.

[Greyhound]

82. Well said. n/t

[demigoddess]

75. sometimes writing a check is the best thing you can do

the money is spent on what they really need, not what we think they need, and it is more efficient to send money than to send yourself over paying money on transportation and then being a burden of being out of place when you get there. I will say we spend our 'checks' close to home. Local food banks etc.

[Brickbat]

45. Because yeah,

there's only so much emotion to go around in a human heart.

[WinkyDink]

54. I hope you realize this is the wealthiest nation in the world.

[Ticonderoga]

100. At least for about 5%

of it's population anyways.

[jailthecrooks]

122. +1000

[Duppers]

66. shame!

what a reply to someone w/an obvious big heart and who, I'm sure, would help people every where.

[Vickers]

81. You people?

:wtf:

[Vincevega]

107. Africa?

I am originally from Nigeria and that one hurt. Not all of African live in poverty and many people living in poverty are doing ok. Growing up, my parent were barely making it but I thought i was the happiest boy in the world because I had 2 parents that loved me. Please stop generalizing the whole of Africa, its nothing like what u see on those Charity Group infomercials.

Also with the amount of mangos, papayas, guavas, bananas, cherry fruiting now, you can live for weeks outdoor without any money :)

[LanternWaste]

134. I imagine the one can be quite sad without affecting...

I imagine the one can be quite sad without affecting the sadness of the other, that they are not directly predicated on on another, and that we may feel particular emotions for one without minimizing our emotions for the other.

I also imagine some people may feel one is necessarily predicated on the other, and that one may not be mentioned without mention of the other.

[woo me with science]

11. We have people at the house almost every day looking for work.

One guy begged me to let him trim our trees. He had tears in his eyes.

Another guy was dragging a suitcase of homemade spot cleaner in old spray bottles and trying to sell it.

These are not kids trying to sell candy. All of these were men over 30 and often well into their 40's or 50's, probably with families to support.

We live in a middle class area. Our house is not on a major or well-traveled road, yet they find us, almost every day.

I am really scared for this country.

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. A few months ago a middle aged woman, in dress skirt, blouse, and pumps stood

on a major Los Angeles boulevard with a sign asking for help. She looked like a business woman. I'm really scared also.:scared:

[defendandprotect]

64. We need the Obama administration to be "scared" for our country .......!!!

To wake up and get moving with more stimulus -- and NOT thru corporations ---

we need direct creation of jobs -- government jobs --

There's plenty of work to do in America -- stop corporate pollution and let's start

cleaning it up!!

[SammyWinstonJack]

96. He'll get right on that...just as soon as we MAKE him.

:silly:

[Vincevega]

108. Why not move?

These people should pack up and move to Nebraska. We have 4% unemployment rate and if he/she has any prof skills, they are going to find an ok paying job here

[4lbs]

109. So, someone who barely has enough money to pay for a single meal should suddenly pack everything up

and move?

Umm... how much would that cost?

Move to Nebraska?

What motel room or apartment could they rent for a month with no money, until they find a job and that first paycheck comes in?

What storage facility could they rent to store all that stuff they packed up for a month with no money, until they find a job in Nebraska and that first paycheck comes in?

You willing to take them and all their belongings into your home for a month?

[uppityperson]

129. I worked as a RN in Nebraska for a yr, got paid 1/3 of what I made in AZ, 1/4 of WA wages

true that it cost less to live, but it was pretty pitiful what I got paid.

Question for you. If a person does not have enough to eat, how will they move? Hitch-hike and then sleep in a park until they land a job there? It is hot and humid there now, probably would work for a bit.

[Name removed]

145. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[raccoon]

132. It costs a lot of money to move. Moving costs, deposits for apartment, electricity, etc.

I'd think anybody would know that.

[Fire1]

16. I hope to God I have it when someone asks. n/t

[ejpoeta]

30. that's the whole thing. we all need help sometime. we may not even realize we are being helped.

but we all need help at some point. some of us are lucky to have someone who can help us. i know i've had a lot of help in my life and i am not going to begrudge another who needs it. i think part of the problem is that some people feel like they've gotten screwed because they can't get help. they struggle and seem to be barely getting by. but then, they have cable and internet and cell phones. omg how i heard bitching about hte cell phones for poor people. they can get a free cell phone with like a small number of minutes on it. you'd think someone was handing them buckets of gold or something. my god! but since these folks are struggling they don't think anyone else should get help either. just lazy i guess. i just hope they never have to actually need that help. because they might understand just how much they have and how the choices we make are what may cause us to seem to not have a lot of money.

i know what poor is. and while we are at a point where we are doing ok, I know it wouldn't take much to end up back on the other side of that. we wouldn't be where we are today if we didn't get that help when we needed it before. when we were on cash assistance when emily was a baby. after the fire when the red cross gave us vouchers to buy clothes and our friends and family descended on us with furniture and other things. we all need that help. and people in that situation are not lazy. it's hard to pull yourself out of that hole. i hope these folks never have to know just how hard it is first hand.

[Withywindle]

85. I hope that too.

I also hope that someone else will have and be willing to give when I need to ask.


Very few of us are all that far removed from people desperate enough to beg strangers. I always think, "that could be me."

[Ticonderoga]

101. I hope you do too. n/t

[drm604]

17. I've helped out a former coworker who was laid off the same time I was.

I'm working again but she hasn't been able to find anything. She's having difficulty keeping her phone and internet and those can be a big help in looking for work. Other friends are feeding her so I gave her some cash for phone and internet.

Those of us who are fortunate to have a little extra cash can help out others at least in small ways. Obviously what's really needed is some kind of massive jobs program. Only the government can do that.

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. +5

[midnight]

19. The jobless recovery act.

[Bonhomme Richard]

20. Probably 2 days a week at $10.00/ hr I'll bet. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. Probably $8/hour

[Bonhomme Richard]

22. I actually put $8/hr but then thought that LA may pay better.

If there actually is a God that believes what was written then this country is going to be treated harshly.

[xxqqqzme]

118. Attended an open forum

budget meeting a couple of months ago. There were about 10 in-home care workers in attendance. Steroid boy's budget had eliminated their jobs completely w/ his 'revised' budget. I recall one provider saying he made $9.25/hr. And that was a reduction from the year before. So if the woman only works 2 days/wk, even if it 10 hrs/day - more likely it's 6 hours.

How rethuglicans think putting people out of work, while abandoning the person needing the care, helps 'balance' the budget is beyond me. That is around 120,000 more added to the unemployed. Reduced revenues for the state. counties and communities.

[Forkboy]

33. You or them?

[Bennyboy]

43. CA IHSS pays 10.50 an hour...

I know cuz that is what I have been doing for the past three years. But I only get 4 hours a week. And they just sent me a letter saying that might be cut to Zero. Which I find funny because my Mom, whom I care for, is much worse off now than three years ago when I first started.

But AHHnold has made IHSS the boogieman and now everyone is scared of fraud and are cutting the shit out of the program. I know that if I was not caring for my Mom (at many more hours than I am paid for) she would be dead by now..

[Duppers]

68. You deserve....

a hug! Best wishes to you & your mom.

:hug:

[Raksha]

23. K & R - bless you for your compassion and empathy.

[CurtEastPoint]

25. Reading this thread...I'm so proud to be here among caring people.

I sit shaking my head, tears. But for the grace of God go I, as the saying goes.

I cannot tell you how wonderful you all are and how good it makes me feel to be among DECENT PEOPLE.

[SalviaBlue]

74. There but for the grace of God go I...

We understand it.

Empathy

That's what separates us from them.

[AnnieBW]

26. We had a guy approach us for money for gas last night

He didn't look like one of the homeless people that usually beg around that area (it was across the street from our local soup kitchen). He said that he'd run out of gas, and was on his way back to Kent Island (Eastern Shore, MD) with his mother. I gave him $5, which is what I had in my wallet at the time. He didn't look like he was going to be booze with it. I told him to forget paying me back. We're all in this together.

We've also helped friends of ours who are unemployed, or were unemployed at the time. Some of them are right-wingers. I bite my tongue to not bring politics into it, but part of me really wants to repeat the latest RW talking points on the unemployed to them.

My house is right by some railroad tracks. If it comes down to people riding the rails looking for work again, they're always welcome to a good meal at my house. My grandmother did it during the Depression.

[cutlassmama]

37. so did my grandmother. We need more of that these days.

[K8-EEE]

27. What a kind gesture n/t

[bigwillq]

28. That was nice of you.

:hi: :hug:

[ejpoeta]

29. i just can't help but think about the selfishness of people. and i don't even know if they realize

they are being selfish. i was at my sisters today hanging out and we were talking about school supplies. i told her about how our local community action was collecting school supplies like they are doing in the city. she started talking about last year and how the people getting food stamps were given $200/child for school supplies. i admit i was ticked off at it too when it happened. being $200 over hte limit myself to be eligible, it would have been helpful to get that kind of help. and i told her i was upset about it to. but then i realized, that i take my kids to get school supplies and can let emily pick out the more expensive folders instead of the 10cent ones. and i can go in and stock up on crayons and glue and pencils and notebooks and everything. i am not doing too bad. and it was pretty selfish of me to get upset that these folks were getting help. now i believe her problem with it was that the people would just take the money and buy a tv. but while some may do that, and i know people who would do that, most would use it to get their kids stuff for school. i don't know where people get this idea that people who get assistance just sit at home and collect checks. most of the people who are getting help are working. they have jobs but just can't afford to survive. we sure are a selfish group of people. and it makes me very sad.

[tblue37]

42. In our town an organization collects donations and then

buys backpacks and stocks them with all the supplies on the required lists from the schools.
Families who apply get the backpack filed with supplies, so the kid also has a backpack for school.

Thus the kids get what they need, and no one uses the money to buy a TV set.

[ejpoeta]

57. the $200 was a one time thing i think tom golisano had something to do with it

but they put it on ebt cards for food stamp recipients to buy clothes and supplies for kids for school and it caused an uproar. people weren't going to donate to the yearly campaign to collect supplies because they thought it was going to go to the kids who got that money. the people running the campaign had to promise the stuff wasn't going to go to the kids getting the money.

[demmiblue]

31. I met a lady at the library who was being paid $1000 a month for live-in care giving.

She was desperate to leave the (somewhat emotionally abusive) situation, but could not due to finances/lack of transportation. For all intents and purposes, she was an indentured servant.

I know that may sound like a strong statement, but that is what it seemed to me. She had no home, no family to help her, no transportation to leave, no insurance, very spotty communication with the family of the elderly person she was watching, etc. Basically, it sounded like the family pawned off the relative (one who sounded like she was suffering from some sort of dementia that needed a higher level of care) on an unsuspecting and ill-qualified person. Mind you, the family member that orchestrated this lived @5 hours away and must have been pretty wealthy (based on details of her account).

The only thing I had for this person was a kind ear and a little advice. I wish I could have done more.

[seabeyond]

32. i had a person come to me at concenient store the other day, ask for a quarter, .50.

sad she and frined thirsty wanted a coke.

i gave her four

i had a friend of sons in the car and he said... my dad would never do that. would yell at her, tell her to get a job, be mad, and girpe for a while.

not me, i said. doesnt hurt to give here and there

the father

he is on disability from a supposed injury to back and hasnt worked for a decade. doesnt take care of his son. and the kid comes to my house for dinner

i told boys later, i was really glad he saw that, so he can see how other people interact in life, and not just father.

[Joe Chi Minh]

34. No wonder Obama's beginning to speak out against the galloping corporatism.

[joeybee12]

35. Cheers to you for your generosity...

...it's really, really tough out there right now.

:toast:

[pipi_k]

36. I saw a real act of kindness the other day myself...

A young boy who lives near a brother-in-law lost his dad a few years ago. My BIL has been trying to be a father figure to this kid since he lives with his mom and older sister.

A few months ago we heard that his sister had screwed up his computer that he uses for school, causing him to have to walk some distance to the library to use theirs.

Some neighbors down the road from us donated one of their office computers to this kid, and after Mr P cleaned the hard drive and installed a bunch of programs, it was all ready for him, and he was so thankful.

Well. The other day this neighbor stopped by the house. Mr P goes out to talk to the wife, then comes in the house, almost in tears. Shows me a $100 bill. It's for Jonathan...the kid without the dad...for school supplies or whatever. Our neighbors have never met him...just handed over the money for him...the wife said she lost her dad at an early age too.

Oh, and our neighbors who have given to a kid they never met?

Conservative Republicans.

Just sayin'.....

[PJPhreak]

60. I live in a Very Conservative Area,

As a group These folks politics are all screwed up.

But as Individuals they can be and are the nicest and most helpful folk I've met.

I just don't understand how someone can act so humanely one moment and so cold and evil the next

[Diclotican]

89. pipi_k

pipi_k

True, many conservatives have a heart, a heart,who is decent.. But they often work in the shadows, and are not known to go aloud around and comercial for what they do, they just do..

I know, as I have been helped, quite a few times by some friends fo me, who is rather conservatives, One year, when i was on some sorts of social security, and had no money to cristmas, they was given me a big basket with food, who must have cost them some money.. I was REALLY gratefull for it, as it made my cristmas week far more easy to goe true... They might not even know who gratefull I really was, but it made the rest of the year for me. its many year ago, but I still rembember it, as it was yesterday

And I try my best to help others, even when I dosen't have to mutch money in the bank.. A little actions of help, even if it just some dimes or roof over a tired head for a night.. That is often the difference between life and a missrable night... And you feel good after the deeds too...

Diclotican

[Ticonderoga]

104. Isn't guilt a bitch? just sayin. n/t

[LanternWaste]

135. One of the many (many) reasons...

One of the many (many) reasons I'll not judge a person based on their adherence to mainstream politics. In my case, I've been wrong far more often than I've been right.

Yours is simply another reason for me to believe that people are people regardless of politics, philosophy, nationality, religion, etc.

"Take each man on his own merits, otherwise it will grow too heavy" A. Schweitzer.

[Prometheus Bound]

39. It costs $1 million a year to send a soldier to Afghanistan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/politics/15cost.html?_r=1&hp

$3 million a year when extra costs such as interest on debt, future medical costs and destroyed equipment are added in.

http://afsc.org/campaign/cost-war

I know it seems off-topic, but it's the first thing I think of when I read these stories of destitution - that is, it doesn't have to be.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

67. Putting it into perspective

[OwnedByFerrets]

93. Its one of the first things I think of also. None of this was/is

necessary. Except that the "powers that be" believe it is necessary for their needs and purposes.

[Imajika]

44. I really just don't trust people that ask for money...

I used to try to help, still do sometimes - but so many times it has turned out to be a scam. I remember in college not so long ago, working at a gas station for extra funds and having a lot of people stop in and ask for gas money or cash for other things (sick kids, medicine for Mom, etc). There was always some story of why they needed assistance, stories I believed at first. I'd often try to help them with a few bucks worth out of my pocket for fuel or whatever bills I had in my wallet to take for whatever it was they could not afford, but some of the other employees would tell me these were all scammers. It was hard for me to believe till the same people showed up again and again. I think maybe they forgot they'd asked before, and I'd hear roughly the same story. I guess many would go on a circuit stopping in retail places & gas stations asking for money. My coworkers confirmed that this was a common con and that is why they didn't give money or help to almost anyone.

Then I traveled quite often for work once I graduated. The company I worked for taught us about scammers targeting business travelers and tourists. Basically said if someone approaches you and asks for almost anything to just walk away. By this time I was a little smarter about con men/women and scammers, but I still didn't quite believe there were so many people out to rip me off. Come to find out that people who ignored this advice about avoiding people asking for money or help often got ripped off big time. I mean, really big time. People would get suckered into assisting someone and wind up falling for some larger gem scam, or get their belongings stolen, find themselves drugged somewhere, etc, etc. It really made me lose a lot of faith in humanity.

These incidents really had an impact on me. I remember thinking many times that Anne Frank just had it all wrong - most people are actually really not good at heart at all.

[RandomThoughts]

47. People are good, unless they go through the system training

to make them cynical.

Note I make statements that some might think of as asking for money, on the contrary I am collecting it for just compensation.

And not from anyone that does not have enough, not from anyone that is struggling.


But people are more good then bad, that is why people are trained to be bad by things like dollar first, that has no moral component. Or by being shown what you could have if you just were like them.


To be honest, in the world, if you care for people, you are behind enemy lines. It is not easy.

[SargeUNN]

48. then the right wing is thrilled

that is exactly how they want you to view people but if you ever worked with and got to know homeless people you will soon see that impression is wrong.

[demmiblue]

49. Anne Frank was right...

a good deed is right in and of itself.

[Duppers]

72. Excuse me, but the OP bought the lady FOOD

and a soda. How was that a scam?!

You can tell the difference....A man with a sob story in the touristy area of Baltimore recently asked me for $40 bus fare to another city. I had $3 and some pocket change and offered it to him. He feined being insulted, actually cussed me, and walked away!! Now, that WAS a scammer. If the man indeed needed the bus fare, he could have stood there until he got another 10 or so other people to give him a little to have made the total fare. A desperate person is not a lazy person.

[SargeUNN]

46. sadly I am close to that stage

I don't know how much longer I will be able to live in my own apartment and just a dollar more to pay out I will have to give in and move in with someone. I sure don't see things changing and due to health problems there is really no alternative. By the way I had to let my internet go already and am online right now because I am at someone else place.

[Lifelong Protester]

119. Hey Sarge, been lookin for you to see if you were all right.

If I see you here, I know you are still kickin.

I am sure hoping that better times will come for you and all who are in the same boat. I know sentiments don't pay the bills, but folks here care about our DU pals.

[Omaha Steve]

50. Wall St. did this (and the GOP deregulating everything)

Wall St. got a bonus. The middle class is accustomed to the shaft already.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

69. Wall Street should have to pay a pecial tax to help the poor.

and the ones they have ripped off.

[nadinbrzezinski]

53. I've done this in the very recent past

A couple was asking for money, they were hungry. I got them breakfast.

I got the same at the farmer's market, again bought food for an older women... she was so damn hungry.

We are seeing this increasingly.

[Name removed]

55. Deleted message

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[Bluenorthwest]

56. I was talking to an affluent looking woman in line at the store

and she said that someone had approached her for money to eat breakfast, and she'd just said, well, I'm also hungry, let's go, and she took the person to breakfast, and they had a great talk, and it had never crossed her mind before, to not just give some food or money, but to sit and share a meal with one who asked for a meal. She seemed refreshed by the experience, and recommended that I try it as well. Sometimes people are just beautiful, the things they think to do. More people like the affluent looking woman at the market and the world would spin more true.

[tomm2thumbs]

71. very nice story - what a nice person

thanks for sharing it

[Duppers]

63. Thank you.

Stories like this make me feel all the more proud to be a liberal and
all the more grateful for what I have.

[pitohui]

65. you did good

same thing, me, if i'm worried the money will go to "enable," this is the way to go...she's genuine, you can feel good abt what you did...

i just don't want to throw a dollar in a bucket and it goes to crack, don't laugh, in new orleans crack still exists....anyhoo i'd rather pay $3 or $5 and it actually goes to something real

[tomm2thumbs]

70. Lady approached me for gas to get home - drove her to get gas for her car

I have never seen a more ashen, dispirited look on someone's face to have to ask for gas to get home. Especially a young woman, alone - begging in a parking lot as the store was closing, parked & waiting for help.

This is all part of the greed of our country's corporate mentality - how can the corporation cut, trim and whittle down our workers, products and responsibilities so stockholders can reap the most money and still have time to jet off to their 2nd/3rd home elsewhere in the world.

Corporate. Greed. Must. Stop.

[Jennicut]

139. Happened to me after I went grocery shopping a few months ago. A young woman approached

me around 9:00 at night. She must have come to me because I was the only person around that was a woman and close to her age. She asked for a ride home. Said she ran out of gas and had no money. I have never let a stranger in my car but she looked desperate and I felt so bad. She was so grateful after I dropped her off at her house. It is very sad.

[madmax]

78. This is so damn heartbreaking

I'm so angry. I feel so sorry for her and so many others in her shoes.

People like you make it possible to continue to have hope that soon things will turn around. You're a good person :hug:

[awoke_in_2003]

79. expect to see more of this...

we are going in the crapper. "We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we will all hang separately".

[Zavulon]

83. You did the right thing in two ways.

First, obviously, helping someone in need - and second, making sure the money was actually going for what she claimed.

I can't do much of that now, being unemployed and all, but when I was actually making a steady paycheck and someone asked me for money, I'd offer to buy a sandwich or something similar - and the answer I got was "I'd rather have the cash." Sorry, buddy, no fucking way.

[Quantess]

84. The guy across the street selling his stuff probably made a lot less money this year

than in previous garage sales. I should know! The yard sale I just had was the worst ever, and not because of a lack of customers. The passersby were so tightfisted with their wallets, it was like
Me: "50 cents"
Yard Sale Shopper: "25 cents"
and if I said no, they would walk away half of the time. I am not exaggerating about people haggling over .25

I had a beautiful, brand new, t-shirt that said NEW ORLEANS and a fleur-de-lis in rhinestones. It was size XS, just a little too small for me, yet it apparently was the right size for some people's daughters. To the first person who showed interest, I said it was $1. That tweenage-girl got denied by her mom. Oh, good grief a whole dollar for a nice, new-looking t-shirt you would actually want to wear to school? NO WAY! It's 50 cents or nothin! But later, someone else paid $1 for the shirt. See, I thought $1 was a modest price. I still think it was a modest price for that shirt, but, geezus, some people are so stingy.

[deacon]

86. The Bush legacy continues. n/t

[TomClash]

87. This is a fact of daily life in New York

I can recount this story untold times here.

If Washington only "knew" or cared.

And yet somewhere someone in a $5 million home is complaining about his taxes.

[mwb970]

88. Thank God corporate profits are way up.

At least everyone isn't suffering.

[Butch350]

91. It feels so good to be in the presence of REAL AMERICANS HERE...

who really knows what America stands for.

[Name removed]

92. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[glowing]

99. This isn't a charity site. Its an online community. You don't have to donate to belong.

But most who want this site to talk and chat and share news and whatever, pay to make sure it doesn't go away.. because as much as it can be crazy discussing amongst ourselves, its sanity compared to the crazy crap in the real world.

Are you pissed that liberal people can be productive and profitable? Or are you just pissed that this is a liberal Democratic posting site? I would think the idea of making money was right up your alley?

[AtLiberty]

94. Someone asked me to buy them gas last year...

I was filling my car up when someone approached me at the pump and asked if I could buy them some gas. I looked her and her car over for a moment. I said, "Well, I can't imagine that you'd be spending time out here on a hot summer day unless you had to." She began to cry. I told her to drive her car to the pump and put in $20, which was probably just a quarter of a tank.

She insisted that I give her my name and address. I said, "No thanks. Instead, I ask you to remember this day and pay it forward. Help someone else out someday." She nodded and looked at me in disbelief, incapable of speaking.

[Phentex]

97. I've offered to buy gas but sometimes they refuse

and want money instead.

I have been scammed before and I'm sure I've helped truly needy people before. I try to do what I can.

[Liberal_in_LA]

106. I stopped at the gas station about 10pm and a guy was begging the attendant

for a little gas. He'd run out on the way home. He came over to me, obviously embarrassed to ask. I was paying with credit card for myself, but reached into my purse and gave him all my change. He gratefully got a few dollars into the tank. He'd run out on the way from work to home.

Other times, I wasn't quite sure if the folks were scamming or not.

Watching "Intervention" on A&E makes you more suspicious... middle class junkies begging for money for their drugs is often shown on this reality show

[Ticonderoga]

98. You absolutely ROCK

my friend, that could have been my mother/sister/whatever. Bless you.

[Liberal_in_LA]

113. Thank you but most of us would have done it, if we could

:hi:

[burnsei sensei]

103. Open-handedness isn't

extraordinary virtue.
It's just plain right.

[Name removed]

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[pasto76]

111. you help people because you can

not because its convenient. Not to go tell everyone what a good person you are. The empathy that you recognize this woman's wounded pride is what makes you human. Is anyone less than positive that this woman was very grateful for the few dollars of charity? You bet your ass she was, and may any of us in her spot find someone as charitable.

This is what should drive all of us to serve our community or people in some manner. Good on you dude.

SGT PASTO

[annm4peace]

114. It is shameful. There gas companies in CA are making billions

and pay little in taxes.

yet the State is "broke". in Many places caregivers are paid mininum and work so hard.

Get rid of Prop 13, tax the corporate farms, tax the gas companies, tax the war contractors like lockheed and boeing, tax the tech companies. and CA will be back on track.

[Honeycombe8]

125. Some of those companies would leave the state for states that are better for

business, unfortunately.

When you're huge like that, you can get away with murder.

[LatteLibertine]

116. I tend to

give to folks that ask. I'm sure I've been scammed before and I'd rather not take the risk of stiffing someone that really needed it.

The GoP do a good job of turning the middle class against the poor with their endless stories of how the poor are just lazy people scamming the system. I've no doubt there are people scamming the system and I'm not going to punish the truly needy because of them.

It seems sometimes we are conditioned to be dreadfully afraid of being a "sucker". In these cases, I'd rather be a sucker than an A hole. Also I'd rather be scammed by an individual than by some big charity that pays their CEOs 400k and gives 10 cents on the dollar to the intended target for aid.

Honestly, seriously think of the money you may piss away on this or that thing that you grow bored with and never use again. Or think of the cash many of us waste just being mindless consumers. Even if directly giving to someone does turn out to be a waste or scam it probably pales to those things by comparison.

As far as being poor goes, I remember stories from my Grandfather. He grew up very poor in a small town except he has a strong family and lived among a quality community. He told me he had a happy childhood and never felt poor. He said he didn't know he was poor until he got out in the world and other people told him so.

[dionysus]

117. that was very kind of you to do. if only more people acted that way.

[earth mom]

121. Wow, so sad.

So many people are falling through the cracks. :(

[DailyGrind51]

123. We have more garage sales in my neighborhood also.

[Honeycombe8]

124. She probably qualifies for food stamps, if she only works 2 days a wk in menial job.

You did an act of kindness. Maybe she got caught in the heat and was in a bind. But really, someone who is truly poor gets food stamps and can easily eat and drink better than someone who doesn't qualify for food stamps but makes very little. I know. I got food stamps one month when I was very young and found myself unemployed with nowhere to go. I was amazed at all the food I could buy on the food stamps. I bought beef for the first time in months. I ate better that month than I had ever eaten since I had left my parents' home. But I got a job, and that ended the good eating. Back to no meat and cans of green beans on sale.

[totodeinhere]

126. Is it better to donate directly to someone in that situation, or is it better to donate to an

agency or charity that serves people in need?

[Liberal_in_LA]

131. When someone says they are thirsty and it's 100 plus degrees, I'm not going to point them to an

agency. Rather give them a drink right then and there.

[jailthecrooks]

128. Blessed

We are all just one accident or mishap away from a life on the streets.

There but for the grace of God go I...

[Name removed]

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