Imagine two homeless people. One is a scavenger (dumpster diver), the other a panhandler. There's no overlap, they do their one thing to survive. Which would bother you more or is worse?
I feel equally bad for both of them. It's hard to make it in this world, and there are many things not entirely in our control that determine our success or failure.
Despite my considerable mental and physical gifts, I don't think I would have become the middle-class success I am now without a LOT of support and understanding (and love) from my parents when I most needed it.
It would bother me more to see the dumpster diver, in that I would want to help him more. At one of my jobs there was a fellow who stopped by every day to check the trash container outside the door for food. We started putting whole meals in there for him to find.
The panhandler because he bothers people and lives off others like a parasite. The scavenger has a yuck factor but in fact manages to take care of himself without help and actually in a small way reduces trash by reusing.
Show of Hands
Comments: Add Comment