People of less fortunate means have never scared me. As a child, my parents would often feed men who rode the boxcars and came asking for bread at our home. They would always get a free meal, either in our back yard or at the local restaurant where my dad had established a "tab" for such purposes. Charity and I are not strangers, but suburbanites are not often approached for a handout and having been in suburbia for the last 30 years, I'd almost forgotten how to handle the panhandle! My husband, ever the expert, has been approached for gas money several times and when he comes from our backyard with a 5 gallon can, the person always disappears. Our daughter was approached in the grocery store parking lot by a man with a sign: "Deaf. Need help." She signed back to him asking what kind of help he needed. He looked confused, then shocked, and hoofed it away.
Today took the cake. A showing brought me to one of the corners frequently populated by panhandlers. Usually the carefully lettered cardboard signs say, "Hungry. Need Food. God Bless" or something similar. Being the cold hearted person that I am, I always drive by with my windows up and my doors locked. (I've seen the TV documentaries that show how much a panhandler makes a day and wonder if I'm in the wrong profession. Not to mention that many times they have newer coats than mine or fancy tennis shoes that cost upwards of $150!) Today I nearly fell out of my car in shock. The carefully worded sign said, "Don't Lie. Want Beer!" I almost pulled over and emptied my purse to reward his honesty!
February 26, 2006 - 'Hearts in Atlantis'
Bonnie,
I wanted to comment on this days ago and just kept forgetting... I needed to look up the name of the book. One of the intertwined stories in Stephen King's 'Hearts in Atlantis' is about panhandling for profit. That particular story line is not in the movie but it is in the book.
I am not a big Stephen King fan. I was when I was a teenager. He has written and co-written a couple of great books since I stopped reading EVERYTHING he wrote. I don't know if Hearts in Atlantis is a great book but it has great twists and turns and there is this thing about a panhandler. It is not a gorey book...like some SK novels, The END... to my literary critique...and on to sociology and geography ; -) Sorry this is long I will get somewhere. Maybe.
When I moved to Columbus (in 1990) I believe that was the first time I saw the panhandlers with signs at off ramps. I wondered at first if it was a sociology experiment for awhile. I did not remember seeing them in Dayton OH, Akron OH, Green Bay WI, Rockford IL or Madison WI. Then after I realized it was not a sociology experiment I wondered if it was city size...or just came in vogue or if it was there and I just did not see it previously. I had seen it in NYC and other big cities.
I enjoyed your blog Bonnie and if I would have looked at the book shelf and read the spine on the Stephen King book I could have commented days earlier! I enjoyed "your panhandlers" honesty. Gene in Chicagoland blogged about your blog (I bet they have panhandlers there.)
Posted by: Maureen McCabe | December 22, 2006 at 05:00 PM