D.C. and the homeless

[T3hDDRKid]

I debated for awhile whether to put this in Critical Thinking or CC, but I finally decided CC, as it generally gets a wider readership.

For most of this past week, I was in Washington, D.C. I had seen some homeless people around where I live, but mostly they were people living in temporary shelters or somehow managing to provide for themselves.

In D.C., I was unfortunately forced [by the group I was with] to go the normal tourist route. Washington Monument, Lincoln Monument, reflecting pool, that sort of thing. These made me quite angry, for reasons I will explain later.

We also visited memorials such as the Vietnam, Korean, and Arlington Cemetery. These places actually touched me a bit, whether I agreed with the specific wars or not.

Now, for those who have visited them, most will agree that the Vietnam and Korean Memorials are touching tributes to those who are veterans of or lost their lives in those wars. The people who put everything on the line for their country certainly deserve more than that. In its own way, though, those small, quiet memorials are oddly touching.

Not the same for others, though. Take the Washington Monument, for example. Over five hundred feet of granite. Why? I could not figure it out for the life of me, and when I asked the guide, he only glared at me. I do not dispute the fact that George Washington was a great man, but certainly he was not that important. [An interesting fact here is that each of the fifty states has a small memorial engraved onto the inside of a granite block. I asked the guide, "For the states that joined the U.S.A. after Washington died, isn't that kind of like sending a card to the funeral of an uncle that you didn't really know?" He glared at me again.] The same point holds true for the Lincoln Monument, and others, to a lesser extent. D.C. is less a collection of monuments, and more a gigantic monument to waste and excess.

As mentioned before, there were homeless people in D.C. There were men and women of all races, but a majority was black men. I do not understand how people can look upon the homeless without compassion. Every time I passed one, I gave them money. Don't get me wrong; I'm not naive. A few tried to scam us of money - "My wife and kids are in the car and we ran out of gas" - but for those that were sitting around, panhandling for a meal, and especially those that played an instrument or juggled, I could not help but give them at least a handful of change.

It especially hurt me inside to see how the locals treated these people. They treated them like they were useless bodies covered in rags, like they had no feelings, no hunger or thirst or emotional want. Once, I even saw a man flick one off, simply because he asked for a dollar! I know that some people will spend it on drugs or alcohol instead of food, but a majority really do spend it on food. Besides, if they want to kill themselves faster, it's their choice! I'd rather save a man's life by paying for a burger instead of keeping my money for fear that he would go buy a beer.

What about you? Do you have any homeless near where you live? Do you help them at all? Or what is your view on the homeless? I'm sure that not everybody sees them my way.

[sertman]

Originally Posted by T3hDDRKid

[An interesting fact here is that each of the fifty states has a small memorial engraved onto the inside of a granite block. I asked the guide, "For the states that joined the U.S.A. after Washington died, isn't that kind of like sending a card to the funeral of an uncle that you didn't really know?" He glared at me again.]

Wrong. Without Washington's leadership, those 50 states would not be able to exist. If he did not lead the country then there's no way we would be where we are today.

[MvargY]

I don't realy have homeless people in my town, but you do see them from time to time. I do agree though, homeless people who are doing their best to make a living and support themselves deserve more respect than they're given. The majority of them are most likely better people than you and I because they want to make the most of everything they can. Even if they were to buy a beer with the money you gave them... let them have it they deserve it because they're stronger people than you and I. I doubt many of us would survive very long on the street.