“GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELPS THEMSELVES.”  Benjamin Franklin

“The poor shall always be among us.”  Jesus, the Christ

I know that throughout the days of Jesus, the Christ, as he walked the earth, he “went about doing good.  We are taught this in the Bible.  We are also taught that we should emulate his behavior.  This is not an easy task for many of US but we, who believe, are commissioned to follow the moral teachings of Jesus, the Christ.  I strive to comply with the admonishments in the teachings of Jesus . . . but lately I have started feeling “SOME TYPE OF WAY.” Why?  I’m glad you asked.  I’ll tell you.

I have noticed within the last few years a MASSIVE INCREASE of folks standing on the street corners asking for financial assistance.  Some folks try to make some change by cleaning your car windows as you wait at the light.  This is more common in the major cities but in my city, people are not feeling folks preventing their forward movement when the light changes to green.  THERE ARE A LOT OF MEN AND WOMAN ON STREET CORNERS NOW IN MY CITY and It is growing day by day.  There are ALSO many places in my city that provides FREE food, FREE clothing, and FREE job training.  The one thing that is not plentiful are locations for them to live.  Some of those places that are willing to provide a place to come in from the cold have rules that some prefer not to follow.   Where am I going with this?  Well, I’m getting there.

Initially, I used to give money to folks on the corners but I stopped when many of these folks made that their occupation.  We have professional Corner Panhandlers.  While sitting at the light one day, I saw a lady go over to a cluster of bushes, unroll a piece of cardboard that had HOMELESS!  NEED HELP!  ONLY NEED MONEY!  Okay so you are telling me that you don’t have anywhere to live, you need help, but you stipulate HOW you want the help to come?  Another time, I saw some folks in similar dress staked out on a few corners that were near each other.  I observed them over time and eventually discovered that they were a group of homeless folks working together to make money.  They were living out of a car in the Walmart parking lot.  “Feeling some type of way” people, I was.   (more to come)

~~~Malinda~~~