I don't mind mendicants who are polite, and are not running a scam, but that might be the minority of them. I see so many panhandlers in the same place, with the same signs. I knew (yes, personally) a woman who dressed up as a commuter and approached people, crying because she lost her bus fare. She did rather well, up to $100 on a good day. She carried a map of the transit system, with the best spots marked. I talked with her a couple times, and she wasn't at all hesitant to tell me how she ran her deal, or how much money she made, or where the best places were. As far as she was concerned, that was her chosen profession.

I never gave money to panhandlers, but I would sometimes buy them a couple cheeseburgers. Those who genuinely needed a boost were appreciative, but many times they just looked away. I had one guy yell at me for disrespecting him, which I found interesting, that giving someone money is a sign of respect, while giving them food is disrespectful. Anyway, you have all sorts of people who ask for money, just as you have all sorts of people in any field. Some of them are deserving, and some are not. I learned not to jump to conclusions either way.

I'm in San Diego, and there's probably a couple hundred panhandlers throughout the city itself, some are Travelers, some are homeless. I've seen some belligerent, nasty panhandlers (mainly people who are rebelling against their privileged upbringing by being jerks) - but most are neutral, and I've actually watched more than a few drop their signs to help people with stalled vehicles or who had problems with kids, pets, or packages while crossing the street themselves

Most panhandlers are harmless - and pretty much unemployable, even at a minimum wage without a lot of time and effort by some sort of caseworker or other agency. If they're young and not working a "real job", it's because of addiction or disability, prior convictions or sheer cussedness/bad attitude/poor coping skills. Prior Convictions are the worst inhibitor for work. It's very difficult to get a second chance and be able to succeed (get a career) once you've screwed up in this society - especially if it was through gang affiliation or with a drug conviction.
If they're old or aren't homeless, they're supplementing some sort of disability or retirement with their panhandling.
There aren't a lot of right now/real time jobs for people in the situation of most of these panhandlers, and on the best days, I doubt they're making the equivalent of minimum wage for the hours they spend out there on walkways, corners, medians, and ramps.

I give the food if I have it, buy something halfway nutritious that can be eaten on the go if I'm near a drive-through or something like that, but I'll also carry spare change. Because again, most of those people are out there anywhere from 6 to 12 hours, and if they more get an average of 50 cents per every tenth car or pedestrian that passes them by, I'd be surprised.

As for enabling them? Heck, with the overcrowding in the shelters, food pantries low, cuts in mental health services, homelessness endemic - I'm probably keeping them alive for another day. My denying some of them pocket change because "they're not working hard enough to clean themselves up" is not keeping them on the street.
It's not keeping them from seeking help - because there's damn little help available that doesn't have strings of some sort (usually "morality based&quot , and frankly, most of it is designed to push the unlucky and unemployable out of sight of "good honest folks" - most of whom are really only a couple months of unemployment and homelessness away from thinking about panhandling for food money themselves.
If I could make their lives better with a job that gives them a living wage and a sense of purpose, or therapy, or a house - I would. But I can't.

The panhandlers are a mirror to America's working public. So I don't mind passing over a few coins if I have them to someone who could be me, if I were unlucky or if I broke down inside. If I lost my job, my home, my family. The mercy I show others is mercy I hope to be shown to me.

Haele

Fucking Facebook no one has privacy anymore.

The group that force-feeds Mark Hyman's crapmentary to its viewers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSYX