Everybody hurts sometimes. There's a homeless man who lives in the bushes right beside the gas station closest to my house. In the summer, I try to remember to bring bottled water with me to hand him when I get stuck at the light. He doesn't press for anything. Sometimes he stands in the median with a sign, but mostly when I drive by he's sitting in the shade of the bushes consuming whatever liquid or solid calories he has procured. I feel bad for him, I'm just not willing to risk doing what he might really need. I am not equipped for rehab or job placement or the like, and if that's what he needs I'm not the man for whom he's looking.
Contrary to what people think of me, I actually live to the left. Over the course of my life, I have given away an amount of money approximately equal to my current annual income that I did not write off as a deduction because it wasn't to a place that gives receipts. However, I'm not a subscriber to the notion that more handouts and money is the answer to the plight of people on the street. While in college, I used to go down on the river on Sunday mornings armed with bagels and fruits I took with me from the dorm cafeteria and sit and chat with the homeless people. I learned a significant amount from them spending time among them. I think I was protected because I brought them things and spent time with them and went dressed in a suit. I think I was protected because they wanted me to come and pay attention to them the next week. Very few people treat needy people as people. We walk away from them as if they were lepers, as if association with people suffering from problems will somehow transfer their plight to our lives. We sometimes shy away from friends with substance abuse problems or profanity problems or other things for fear of guilt by association. We care too much about our reputation and too little about our character.
At the time I made these weekly visits to the homeless, I had very little to give. I suppose I could have invited them back to use the showers or sleep on my floor, but I have always had a distrust of people I do not know well. I did like most other people what was comfortable. I chose to give them food or money or clothing because of the easiness of the way. I work now with a man who describes himself as a bleeding heart liberal, which is fine as long as that's the way he chooses to live. I have no desire and he has no right to force me to live that way. He is agnostic; he cannot leverage my Faith and faith to join him in something that is a different belief system even if the principles in theory are shared. As I have started saying, it matters more why we do a thing than the what the thing itself is that we do.
Bleeding Heart Liberalism is a very convenient religion. People who live this way like the notion that they can give money because it's easy and it slakes their guilt. They 'did something'. Nevermind if it was useful, helpful, or right. They did something. It just feels to me too much like the sale of indulgences- where people who believe this way, religious or not, can pay a fee and feel better about themselves. In giving away money, especially if it's not theirs, they feel less guilty. Most of the people who are in tough circumstances don't need money. They need our attention, our time, our help and more than anything our love. They need someone to pay attention to them long enough for them to either get the medical help they need or the opportunity to prove themselves to get back on their feet. We assume that they all want money; we assume they want the money so they can waste it on booze or drugs. Some of them do. Most people who suffer however suffer in ways we cannot see. They are lonely. They feel unloved. Maybe they were in part of a bad relationship, burdened at work, or something else we have not imagined. Liberalism and the left like to just throw money at things. You cannot buy real companionship or hope or opportunity. It is after all more about who you know, and how many of us really know any of those homeless people?
I'm not sure we can really help people we do not know. Last night I unexpectedly spent five hours visiting an elderly woman who lives alone. She seems normal enough, but I can tell that she is at least as lonely as I am. All she really wanted was for someone to pay attention to her and visit with her. As I got to know her better, I realized more about her situation and what she might really need. Of course, she'd probably accept a wad of cash, but cash never gives good advice, hugs you, keeps you warm or converses with you. Cash is an easy answer but not always the correct one.
When we give them what they really need we actually help people. Life is more than meat and to live more than raiment. That's fine if you do something. Do you want a medal? You see, the pain of giving money lasts only a few moments while the money is felt as a loss. Working with troubled teens, down-syndrome children, disabled veterans, and other similar groups requires a huge commitment of time and capacity. I admire friends of mine who work with homeless teens, teach welfare recipients to grow gardens downtown, and who assist the handicapped to do projects so they can at least eek out a meager existence. Most people are unwilling to make that sacrifice and give money to those who will; liberals especially like to pat themselves on the back for their giving. However, the thing you give is only valuable if the person to whom you give it values what you offer them.
Rather than giving of our fiduciary means, I think it does far better to give of our time and talents. After all, we can always get more money. We can never get more time. Anyone can give money, even the poorest of men. Not everyone can teach a child to read, engineer a well in the right place or administer dental care to the deprived. There are things that each of you can do that nobody else can do as well as you. Money is fine. Giving them what they need is better. Do not allow yourself to be caught up focusing on what is good when there is something better and something more that can be done.
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