Home of the Homeless

I know I promised to update this blog more often when American Idol finally ended, so of course I haven't posted to this blog since after the finale. Go figure.

For the last few weeks, and for that matter the next few weeks, I have been busy with a number of work related projects that I am not getting paid to do but still need to do anyway, which has kept me from making the promised posts. Two weeks ago I gave a presentation to a group of young engineers. Last week I did one final read-thru of a construction manual that I am the head writer for just before publication, and for the last few days I have been studying for the LEED AP exam that I am taking this week. Then once that is done I need to prepare a presentation for the conference in Peru next month that is the subject of another one of my blogs.

Now that I work in San Francisco I encounter a lot more homeless people during my commute than I did before. Last week was especially true, as there was this gentleman on the commuter train that I was on who was slowly walking through the train car with a hat out begging for money. He was an older gentleman who needed a cane to move around. He was dressed nicer than the homeless people that I see sleeping on the streets in San Francisco but like them he was asking for change. I did my best to avoid eye contact with him as he walked by, something I find myself doing a lot more these days. Most others on the train did the same, as only two people gave this man any money.

I like to think of myself as a caring person, but I cannot seem to bring myself to care about the homeless people that I encounter on an almost daily basis to the extent that I reach into my pocket and give them money. When this gentleman got off the train I started to wonder how I had gotten so cold to the idea of giving this guy money that I went out of my way to avoid eye contact with him, and why I do this to pretty much every homeless person I see with a hat or can out. I supposed some of it is related to my suspicion that these guys will use the money to buy drugs, and while I would be willing to bet most of them would what about the ones that would not? For the life of me I cannot tell the difference, so I end up not giving anyone any money at all.

A couple days earlier there was a woman with her son sitting on the sidewalk in front of the commuter train station with a sign asking for money because they were stranded. I was tempted to take them to the airport and buy them a ticket to wherever home is for them but instead I just walked by, just like the hundreds, perhaps thousands of others who use that same station that same day. We cannot all be callous people, can we?

The last time I gave someone begging me for money some cash was a couple of years ago. While I was sitting in a small park eating lunch a gentleman that appeared younger than me and not strung out on drugs came up and sat on the bench with me and starting telling me his life story about how he was just laid off from his job and he needed some cash for food. He was better spoken than most homeless people so I sat there and listened to him, also because I could not think of a graceful way to get up and move away. When he was done I gave him a $20 bill. He promised that he would pay me back and of course he never did, but at the same time I never saw that guy again. My hope is that the reason why is because he was able to get back on his feet again, but I will never know for sure.

We seem to live in a society where those who beg for money on the streets are treated with suspicion, that giving them money only enables them to continue down the path that put them on the street to begin with. And indeed I would bet that in most cases this is true. But I suspect that there are those who are sincere in getting off the street who are getting lost in the fog of suspicion and thus don't get the help that they need. And whose responsibility is it to help these people? Their families? The government? Us? I know Hillary Clinton claimed that it takes a village, but is it the village's responsibility to give money to everyone who asks?

I wish these folks would find the help that they need, but I am not sure how. It is a good thing that I am not running for mayor. I just don't have the conscience for it. Maybe that is why so many politicians are lawyers.