Everyday we see more and more people on the street corners begging. These beggars range from the very young to the very old. Some are handicapped and we even have some in wheelchair. Along with the beggars there is also a fair share of windshield wipers. These persons also vary in ages and come in different stages of attire, or lack there of.
We tend to feel compassion for most of these ‘street people’ especially the children. Most Jamaicans grow up in a God fearing home and as a result (even if they don’t attend church regularly) have a desire to help those less fortunate. After all, your child has several pairs of shoe and here is this little child with none. Or we waste so much food each day and this person is hungry.
But are we really helping when we simply hand over our hard earned dollar to someone who has done nothing but simply asked for it. If that’s why we work then why bother. Most of us can hardly survive today on the salaries we earn and things are getting harder with each new day. Many days if you put gas in the car you can’t eat lunch. I remember when I would be ashamed to drive up to the gas pump and ask for less than $500.00 dollars worth of gas. Today I feel no way to get $100.00 worth of gas if that’s all I have.
Not that we want to be mean, for the good book teaches us to help those who need our help. The question is, have these people tried to help themselves, or are they simply exploiting our kind nature? And what values are we teaching the children. In fact we are sending them a very negative message. “You don’t need to study or work hard for what you need in life; you simply have to ask for it.”
The children we see on the streets today are either put there by there parents or ‘just bad’ and are there simply because they know the people will feel sorry for them and give them money. Some of the beggars are truly handicapped; however they try to use this to emotionally blackmail us. Some only pretend to be handicapped, physically or mentally in an effort to extort money. Most of the street people are healthy, strong young men. They don their worst clothing and pretend to be destitute. They hang around intimidating motorist especially defenseless women. Sometimes their only propose is to steel from unsuspecting drivers.
The ugly reality is that more and more of us are being pulled into the bracket of the ‘needy’. The salaries are no longer able to scope. The beggars on our streets are going to multiply. There is only one way to curb this and that is for every Jamaican to stop giving to these people.
Nuff Love