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Share my Daily OM
I subscribe to Daily OM and found this article interesting. Wanted to share and get your opinions.
Article here
I do however feel that just offering a blessing as you pass doesn't quite get it. What I mean to say is, I certainly can't help all the homeless (money, food, etc) but is just saying good luck or best wishes enough? Just curious as to what ya'll have to say or your opinions.
Jackie
Article here
I do however feel that just offering a blessing as you pass doesn't quite get it. What I mean to say is, I certainly can't help all the homeless (money, food, etc) but is just saying good luck or best wishes enough? Just curious as to what ya'll have to say or your opinions.
Jackie
0
Comments
if I might offer you my humble opinion:
The lesson I got out of Buddhism for me, is that the focus is on intention. Giving a blessing or a smile to a homless might look useless at first look, when one takes the maybe naive position that only material needs matter. But, on the second look, it helps us to cultivate good will towards them, and they also might rejoice when they recognize someone cares about them, does not reject them and are not hostile towards them. i believe a great deal of the homeless ended up there because they just broke emotionally at some point. But even if I am wrong and it will not show any effect on them, it at leasts helps you to cultivate good will towards all sentinent beings!
Regards
Always searching
Jackie
I also followed my teacher the day after we arrived in India in 1996. We stayed in Mumbai (Bombay) for a few days, and the first day we went for a long walk. She would give money to some of the beggars that littered the streets, but not all. In fact, there were a group of three boys, two of whom were actively begging while the other hung back, and she gave money to the one not begging. It was also a very good lesson.
I'd say give them a buck or two if you can afford it and if you feel they won't immediately spend it on booze or drugs. Even more important, don't be afraid to spend a minute or two talking to them. It won't kill you!
Palzang
Short of sitting on the sidewalk chatting with homeless people, there are many ways to show you care and the simplest way is to look them in the eye and offer a sincere smile. Or you could buy some of those fleece blankets that are inexpensive, lightweight but very warm and make a gift of them. Can openers, handkerchiefs, paperbacks and packaged foods also make good gifts.
I once befriended a homeless man in the city where I went to university. I used to see him around town a few times a week and we'd sit at the park or the bus stop and talk about our lives. He had a mild form of schizophrenia but had taken to huffing (inhaling chemicals like modeling glue and aerosols) when he was a teenager and pretty much fried his brain. But his mental illness and drug abuse hadn't hardened his heart because he gave me a huge bag of groceries from the food bank one day when I was having trouble getting my student loan sorted out and I was really broke. You should have seen what was in it. There was bread, cereal, milk, a dozen eggs, cheese, crackers, smoked salmon (yes, smoked salmon from the food bank!), apples, grapes, lettuce, cucumber, macaroni and cheese and a bunch of other stuff. Oh, and bacon too. It was awesome! I was so grateful and I bet he felt great being able to help me. I'll never forget that day. What a guy. I eventually lost touch with him because I moved out of that city but I'll never forget him. He taught me about dignity and generosity no matter what circumstances one finds themselves in. You just never know who your teachers are going to be.
He taught me a lot and, although I understand and sympathise with Palzang's view, " I'd say give them a buck or two if you can afford it and if you feel they won't immediately spend it on booze or drugs", this wonderful, if difficult, man showed me that, even though he might spend money in ways that appear self-destructive, such judgments are not mine to make. After all, as he said, we give money to children to buy sweets ("candy" for North Americans) which rot their teeth and make them fat, whilst a can of Special Brew or a small deal may relieve a greater pain than a craving for sugar.
Which reminds me of another homeless man story. When I was living in Montreal in my early thirties I was standing in line at the bus stop when a homeless man made the rounds asking the people standing in line for money. Now, I have to admit that I almost always give people money when they ask me for it unless I'm honestly broke. This particular day I only had a bit of change in my pocket and no other cash but I had enough for the bus and I was on my way home so I handed the man the small bunch of change. He looked at it in the palm of his hand, jiggled it around a bit to see what kind of coins were in it, swore at me in French, and threw the change into the street! Now granted, it was made up primarily of nickels, dimes and pennies but it was all I had although he clearly thought I was holding out on him. I was so mad I almost ran after him to give him hell but I didn't want to lose my place in line and the bus was coming anyway. But was I ever mad! Although I say now that I would not attach a single condition to a gift I was giving, I'd probably still get pissed off if it was thrown into the street with disgust and contempt. lol!!
Rain or shine....in the most awful weather...they stand there. On one particularly hot day, it was my car that ended up next to the 'vet' at the stoplight. In these days of plastic, I literally don't have any cash on my person. I rolled down my window and said, 'I have no cash...but will you take a bottle of water?'. He did.
It was genuinely heart-warming to walk down into town and be greeted by beggars who had become friends. One day, Jack (age 11) wandered into town before me. As I walked in, I was given directions to find him along with the daily namastes. I miss these kind people who are trapped in poverty but who are free with their smiles and gentle humour.
Of course, one feels compassion for people like that. Some do it because they have no choice. Others do it, like Harlan pointed out, as a scam, often an organized scam. I remember in Mongolia there was a clique of young boys and girls who hung out in front of the State Department Store, just a couple of blocks from my apartment. They were always begging money, day after day, and were experts in putting on a soulful, pleading expression. One day I saw one of the older ones, who seemed to be the leader, giving money to an adult who obviously was the pimp, or whatever you want to call him, like Fagin in Oliver Twist. That pretty much confirmed what I had suspected, this was just a scam. There used to be lots of street kids in Mongolia after the fall of Communism when the economy went in the toilet without Soviet aid to prop it up, but nowadays real street kids are pretty rare, so most of the beggars you see are just doing it to rip people off. The same occurs on a much bigger scale in India where people will actually mutilate their children so they bring in more begging. Yet even so I can feel compassion for them. What a way to live!
Palzang