EDITOR: I
’m a regular reader of the column by Chrissy Bryant in the
MHLife section of the newspaper. I went to high school with
Chrissy.
EDITOR:
I’m a regular reader of the column by Chrissy Bryant in the MHLife section of the newspaper. I went to high school with Chrissy.
Her recent column on Social Darwinism hit a nerve. I happen to have an extremely strong opinion on giving money to the homeless. I agree with Chrissy and her friend “Matt.” Based on my own past experiences, I now have very strong views on how to handle someone asking for money. I do have money to give, but I refuse to give cash out to anyone who asks for it. I was once walking down the street, coincidentally by a 7-Elevens store, and a man asked me for money for food. I happily obliged and then watched as he went and bought alcohol. This incident does not in any way mean that all homeless people are going to spend the money on drugs or alcohol, but the truth is that some of them do.
I have learned that if I am going to give my money out, I want to be sure that it is going to good use. When approached my homeless people, who claim to need money for food, i would not give them cash. Instead, I offer to buy them food. I do this on a regular basis, and have received quite different results. Half of the people were grateful, and accepted the food and went on their way. The other half declined my offer and left, which shows me that they did not need the money for food after all.
San Jose has an extremely large drug problem. And if you researched drug and alcohol addiction, you would learn that as long as society keeps giving people money, we are essentially supporting their habit. The longer we keep giving, the longer they keep taking.
I am not one of those people Chrissy mentioned as who “does not have a soul.” I do genuinely care about the welfare of whose less fortunate than me, which is why I will buy diapers for a woman’s child or dinner for a starving family. But there is too high of a percentage of alcoholics and drug addicts for me to just ignorantly throw money around. Maybe try offering to buy food for someone when asked. Do a little experiment and you will see who really needs help, and who is looking to waste your money to support their habit.
Karlina Paredes
Morgan Hill
