Transience
20 Sep 2008 
just before lunchtime 
Matt Winckler
Spokane evidently doesn’t have laws prohibiting panhandling, and in certain places it shows. It is particularly bothersome in the area of the Wal-Mart that I patronize on occasion for various little items. There are always beggars on the freeway off-ramps, and always the same beggar at the entrance to Wal-Mart itself. The other day I was in the parking lot opening up my car door to leave when one of the blighters hailed me. This fellow was your typical transient, with unkempt hair, beard/mustache, and dirty cap and clothes, but he lacked a cardboard sign. When he asked for cash “to pay for gas”, I suggested that he contact the local police, since they sometimes administer funds donated by charity for just such purposes. He claimed that he’d already tried them and they were out of money because it was the middle of the month. (Riiiigght.) I then suggested contacting a church. He avoided that topic altogether and began talking about how he’d bought this old camper/RV sort of thing for $2,000 and was “giving it a try” but it cost enormous amounts of money to fill with gas because it had a “thirty-gallon gas tank and a fifty-gallon reserve tank. Figure that one out!” Indeed.
The conversation became more interesting. According to Stanley (as his name turned out to be), he was from Pennsylvania and had just finished serving a 60-month prison sentence. (He didn’t tell me what for.) He continued on to proclaim that “if he wanted to” he could make plenty of money working because he was a railroad worker. But his wife wanted to go to Arizona, see. This stellar piece of logic was apparently supposed to convince people that he deserved to get their money for free instead of becoming a productive member of society and earning his own keep.
But if this wasn’t enough to convince you to give the worthy man all of your available cash and bless his noble journey, I’ll tell you the real kicker, the first thing I noticed as soon as he began talking: his eyes were glassy, he reeked of alcohol, and he was actually holding a coffee mug full of beer in his hand the entire time he was talking to me. But I’m sure if I’d given him cash, he would have used it to buy gas and get his wife to Arizona.
This all happened on Monday after classes and I hadn’t yet been back to the apartment, so the car was still full of my stuff–including my uniform and a hat emblazoned with a police emblem sitting in plain view. (We don’t wear any “identifiable” parts of the uniform when we’re out in public; though anyone who’s mildly attentive could certainly pick up clues from the “unidentifiable” parts that are acceptable to wear–including boots and navy BDU pants.) I kept waiting with great anticipation for the moment when he realized that he was drunkenly babbling and begging for cash from a police officer, but to my disappointment he never did, and we parted ways–he none the wiser (and none the richer), me edified by his stirring story.
It boggles my mind that some people actually hand out money to these parasites.
Hmmm… but what about the bible verse that says something to the affect of being hospitable to everyone, for you never know when you’ve entertained angels… or the “whatever you do for he least of your brothers, that you do for me”
My own philosophy is to give panhandlers a dollar, sometimes two. They can buys something to eat at McDonald’s with that. If I fail to help a brother, I sin. If they misuse my charity, they sin.
On the other hand, I’ve never been asked for $$ specifically to buy gas to get someone to Arizona. I think I would have avoided helping on that occasion as you did.
I’ve thought before that I should just keep some McDonald’s $$ in the car or my wallet for just such situations, but I only think of that when I’m in the situation and have never remembered that when I was actually at McDonald’s.
I can imagine your reaction to this, but there is still something in me that doesn’t want someone to be hungry and is willing to throw away money on the off chance that the person will actually use the money for food instead of alcohol.
On the flip side, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” In today’s economy (even when it’s “bad”) there are always jobs available–if you’re willing to do them. I also don’t think it’s as simple as pushing our sin onto them by defaulting to “giving mode”. To whom much is given, much is required. I think that includes at least a little wisdom in the manner in which we help the willfully “destitute”.
Apart from that, at some point even a mere financial enabler of an alcoholic bears at least some responsibility for the problem.