The Homeless & the Street beggars

by Craig Butler

I don’t know if it’s just me but there seems to have been an increase lately of people aimlessly wondering the streets. Some are suffering from various addictions and have lost heir way. But the number of others who don’t have a home and travel with their belongings appears to be on the rise and is of greater concern.

I say this because when individuals resort to living on the streets it could indicate that the economy is faltering; that there is a lack of jobs; that people have just given up; that the education system is not producing the right calibre of person. We need to determine what is going on here and soon.

Most of us who drive around have come to recognize these street people and many of us stop and give them change. By and large we have accepted them, and to some extent feel sorry for them. Not that we ever really try to alleviate their pain or their station in life, but I guess we do what we do so as to make ourselves feel better.

On the other hand sometimes I regret giving money to these individuals as once you have given every time you pass that particular place where they reside they have an unrealistic expectation that you will always give to them - so much so they come up to your car with their hands outstretched.

What distresses me is that in a small country such as ours surely we must know who these people are? If so, where are their relatives? Granted that someone bent on self destruction will not heed advice nor abide by the rules instituted by their loved ones, but sometimes there needs to be an interdiction by the family.

Not all the people on the streets are from less fortunate families. For example, there is a particular man who hails from Lyford Cay. Many of us feel as though it’s not our problem, but we certainly can’t expect the government to take care of this. The few charitable or Christian organizations that attempt to fill the gap are largely overcrowded and underfunded. I wish that I had the answer.

I have also noticed lately that the two blind men that used to sit on the corner by Wesley Methodist Church have moved further west. So I stopped and asked them the other day what happened and the lady who is normally there with them said that the police came and made them move under threat of arrest.

Now I find it hard to believe that the police would do such a thing - after all these men weren’t hurting anybody. But if it is true that this in fact happened, what about the young men with the blue containers and camp out by the Mall at Marathon. I have never really been able to determine who they are or what they are collecting for, but based on the amount of people that I have witnessed giving them money I’m sure that they must collect a pretty penny.

Not to point out any particular group, but the organized collections are also on the rise. I don’t want to cast aspersions on anyone, but surely some of these people must be taking advantage of our good nature.

As they are in the streets there are no regulations to cover this. How do we determine who is real and who isn’t? Mind you I have not even mentioned the children with the sponsorship sheets as I tend to have faith in them or the people soliciting for medical funds who for the most part are probably genuine, but another area of concern is the individuals who walk around with the prescriptions which they cant fill and beg your indulgence. Many of these are so old and tattered that you know straight off what they are about.

A little over a year ago there was a particular gas station that I used to visit daily for my morning coffee. I was approached by a man who had a sad story about not being able to get his medicine and showed me the prescription. Well, feeling sorry for him, I contributed. But this was a mistake. What I had in essence done was open the door to be harassed every time he saw me.

I eventually stopped going to the gas station so as to avoid this person. It had been some months since I saw him, but about two weeks ago whilst emerging from Sailor's Choice on East Bay Street this gentleman spotted me and promptly stopped his car in the middle of the road jumped out and came hurriedly and excitedly towards me.

He was telling me how he had been looking for me and immediately went into his prescription dilemma. I told him point blank not today and I got into my car. I must be a fool or have a soft spot, but I actually felt as though I did something wrong.

I adopted this approach because some weeks before another person tried the same one on me. I said I would take him to the pharmacy and buy the medicine, at which point he became irate. I responded politely that that was my offer, but you are refusing because I won’t put the money into your hands.

I feel strongly that we all need to do what we can to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters. I am tired of being taken advantage of, however, and I have decided that when I am going to help from now on I will do so directly to ensure that the help requested is what is really wanted.

The next time someone asks you for money to buy food, take the time out and offer to go and buy the food for them I can assure you that over half of them will give you a profanity-laced lashing.

It would be nice if the government would send a team out to determine who these people are, whether or not they have family, the reason they are on the streets, and how many of them there are. In relation to those that beg we need to register them as well and if they are not genuine we should put out a public service notice so that unsuspecting persons are not conned.