When the Homeless Use Humor to Fill Their Empty Cups (fwd)
P. Myers (mpwr@u.washington.edu)
Tue, 7 Jul 1998 17:04:27 -0700 (PDT)
what do we think of this? comments? Pat Myers
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"In the depth of winter, I finally
learned that, within me lay an
invincible summer."
Albert Camus
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 13:34:15 PDT
clari.news.issues
Subject: When the Homeless Use Humor to Fill Their Empty Cups
He stands on a corner near Union Square, one of many homeless men -
and a few women - appealing for money on a summer weekend. But instead
of printing a generic ``Homeless and hungry'' request on cardboard, he
lightens his plea with humor, calling out, ``Spare some change for the
residentially challenged?''
A block away, another needy man rattles coins in his paper cup and
holds a sign bearing a joking message: ``My wife's been kidnapped. I'm
short 98 for ransom.'' Nearby, a third man also tries for laughs by
waving a colorful whale hand puppet - and a cup - at pedestrians.
Humor is not typically the stock-in-trade of the dispossessed. But
like merchants seeking to attract customers with advertising jingles,
these desperate citizens of the street hope their ploys will capture
the attention - and money - of shoppers, tourists, and
convention-goers.
Summer is the season when the homeless become nearly invisible in
many American cities. But here in San Francisco, where they number
between 12,000 and 17,000, their conspicuous presence serves as an
uncomfortable reminder of two vastly different Americas. Despite a
decade of prosperity, the rising tide has clearly not lifted all
boats.
Just ask Charlene Tschirhart, director of donor services for St.
Anthony Foundation here. On a single day last month, her organization
served hot meals to 3,000 people.
``The Dow Jones looks so good,'' she says. ``But in the same year
that we had such an economic boom, Congress cut food stamps. Isn't
that an incredible statement of our values?''
She adds, ``There's more discouragement and more despair among the
poor, and more a feeling of alienation that the community out there
just doesn't get it.''
In the past two years, 4,000 units of public housing have been
demolished here, the Coalition on Homelessness reports. During the
same period, 1,700 residents have lost disability benefits under the
Contract With America. And rents have skyrocketed, with vacancy rates
under 1 percent for even the cheapest single-room-occupancy hotels.
Problems like these exist in many cities, of course. Fourteen
percent of Americans, Ms. Tschirhart notes, live below the poverty
level - $16,700 a year for a family of four. ``I'm always amazed that
we don't see more people on the streets,'' she says.
To Americans with compassion fatigue, she says, ``If you're tired
of looking at the poor, imagine how incredibly difficult it is to be
the person who is poor, trying to figure out how to get the next meal,
get housing and health care, and deal with loneliness. Poverty is so
alienating.''
Still, for pedestrians walking a gantlet of outstretched hands,
sidewalk appeals raise difficult questions: To give or not to give? If
so, how much, and to whom? Not all donations go for food or rent, as
one unkempt man on Powell Street admits. His sign reads: ``Why lie?
Need a beer.'' Financing addiction is not what most donors have in
mind.
It will take more than quarters and dollar bills stuffed into
Styrofoam cups to clear sidewalks and shelters. As Tschirhart puts it,
``We need to address this not just for the poor but for society. We
don't want to continue this way.''
Addressing the problem of homelessness will require a sustained
national debate on housing policies, livable wages, and affordable
health care. It will mean not just looking up approvingly at a
sky-high stock market but also looking down compassionately at the
ragged survivors on the street, including those who mask despair with
humor as they try to stay afloat for yet another day.