i have a question for you folks..... check out this picture (scroll down a bit) and tell me what your first reaction is. why? what is your honest reaction? how do you feel about this reaction? why?
I was mildly amused. It seemed to me that he had found a rather - comic - means for obtaining some cash. Quite often, people are more likely to give money to someone who has put some thought into how they beg, rather than just outright asking. My second thought was to wonder if he had a mental condition, and perhaps I simply wasnt being sensitive enough. Having worked for the Salvation Army for 3 years, and spent a goodly amount of time in the Edmonton downtown core, I can verify that most homeless or "disenfranchised" are mentally unstable at best. Looking at the picture again, I notice that his hat and clothes are clean, neat (although oversized) and he appears to be well kept. This would lend me to thinking he probably lives in a shelter of some kind, and not on the street. His handwriting seems to be neat, and his spelling is accurate, and despite the shakiness, he was probably decently educated. I really wish I could see what condition his shoes/jeans are in.
I would give this man money. My automatic instinct is that this is how he makes his living, and that he wasnt going to simply spend it on beer and drugs. But thats just me.
THIS BLOG IS IN NEED OF AN OVERHAUL. there are posts from years back i would not be able to post in good conscience now. i plan to overhaul the blog, and either delete or add a disclaimer to those posts. but that is gonna take time....
The Radical Summons: "Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." Hebrews 13:13.
"The Spirit never loosens where the Word binds; the Spirit never justifies where the Word condemns; the Spirit never approves where the Word disapproves; the Spirit never blesses where the Word curses." —Thomas Brooks
"God receives none but those who are forsaken, restores health to none but those who are sick, gives sight to none but the blind, and life to none but the dead. He does not give saintliness to any but sinners, nor wisdom to any but fools. In short: He has mercy on none but the wretched and gives grace to none but those who are in disgrace. Therefore no arrogant saint, or just or wise man can be material for God, neither can he do the work of God, but he remains confined within his own work and makes of himself a fictitious, ostensible, false, and deceitful saint, that is, a hypocrite." --Martin Luther (W.A. 1.183ff)
i will not let You go: "Jacob's sense of his total debility and utter defeat is now the secret of his power with his friendly Vanquisher. God can overthrow all the prowess of the self-reliant, but He cannot resist the earnest entreaty of the helpless." --Albert Barnes
i will not let You go: "Jacob's determination did not flow from his strength, it flowed from his weakness." --Charles Leiter
The sign struck me a funny, but the look on his face was pure desperation.
ReplyDeleteI was mildly amused. It seemed to me that he had found a rather - comic - means for obtaining some cash. Quite often, people are more likely to give money to someone who has put some thought into how they beg, rather than just outright asking.
ReplyDeleteMy second thought was to wonder if he had a mental condition, and perhaps I simply wasnt being sensitive enough. Having worked for the Salvation Army for 3 years, and spent a goodly amount of time in the Edmonton downtown core, I can verify that most homeless or "disenfranchised" are mentally unstable at best.
Looking at the picture again, I notice that his hat and clothes are clean, neat (although oversized) and he appears to be well kept. This would lend me to thinking he probably lives in a shelter of some kind, and not on the street.
His handwriting seems to be neat, and his spelling is accurate, and despite the shakiness, he was probably decently educated.
I really wish I could see what condition his shoes/jeans are in.
I would give this man money. My automatic instinct is that this is how he makes his living, and that he wasnt going to simply spend it on beer and drugs.
But thats just me.