Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-28
Posted on June 28th, 2009 in homelessness
- Sign at shopping ctr on Bessemer: “Peddlers & panhandlers prohibited in this area.” Legal? Why not do this downtown? Solve that problem. #
- W/Audrie. Looking 4 homeless panhandler she met yesterday. Have food & necessities 4 him. Not on his corner. Can’t find his camp. Hmm…
# - I need someone with a Sam’s or Costco card to go with me on Fri, Sat or Sun so I can buy food to feed homeless people. Anybody? Thanks!
# - petition @kayhagan to Fully support a public health care option! http://act.ly/45 retweet to sign #
- At Anericorps homeless camp cleanup. The familiar clinking sound of 40s being loaded into plastic bags. Getting it done for our friends. #
- Dude I’m sitting in a homeless camp with my friends watching a train. Living outside sucks. Trains and friends are pretty cool, though. #
- Homeless camp cleanup went well. Saw old friends and met new ones. Watch my blog for a list of needs. Hard to see women living outside. #
- Hippo magazine: “Does Greensboro enable the homeless?” What? That’s about a stupid question. Ignorance gets on my nerves. Learn something. #
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June 30th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I’m not familiar with that Scripture, Diane. Could you please provide the reference?
The Scripture I’m aware of on begging casts it in a negative light. For example: Psalm 37:25, Proverbs 6:6-8, Proverbs 20:4, 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
When Jesus met beggars (Mark 10, Luke 18), he didn’t give them money, he healed them. When Peter and John were asked for money by a beggar, they offered him healing in the name of Jesus instead (Acts 3).
If there are passages of Scripture that speak of begging as honorable, I would certainly like to know, and to study them. It may change my perspective.
I want to make it clear that I believe that each person should give and/or respond to panhandlers as they are led by the Holy Spirit, or by their own conscience. That’s a very personal decision.
My concerns about panhandling downtown are very specific to aggressive, in-your-face panhandling that is driven by an immediate need for drugs or alcohol. (I know so many of the panhandlers, and am aware of the issues which drive them.) I am so against and so sad about this kind of begging. It enables behavior that literally destroys the addict, it reinforces all kinds of negative stereotypes about the homeless (even though it’s not just homeless people doing it), and it creates a climate of fear and unease for those visiting downtown. And in some cases, it’s a realistic fear. Some of the aggressive drug-seeking panhandlers have a history of violence. It’s just a sad, desperate situation, and I long to see a resolution. Of course, the best resolution would be recovery from addiction, but that comes when people are ready to seek it.
June 30th, 2009 at 8:21 am
The area on Bessemer is probably private property. There are signs all over the city on doors to private property that say “No Soliciting.”
Downtown sidewalks, streets and parks (except the cement park at Elm and Friendly) are public areas.
Doesn’t the Bible say somewhere that begging is an honorable profession?