Tapsearch Com EditorPanhandler hustler or Jesus (LINK)
June 4th 2008 18:27
In Cleveland Ohio, we have a problem with panhandlers in the downtown area. There are also many homeless in the small parks and even lying on the ground near the sidewalks. Dick Feagler, top editorial writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, wrote once that the bums prosper like software salesmen from the Silicon Valley. With more than a million workers losing their jobs in the computer industry, some of the bums may be former salesmen from the Silicon Valley. However, the downtrodden seem to all look alike.
There was a time when the downtown area hosted many international corporate offices. A salesman could stay downtown for days just calling on all the accounts. Even during those days, we had many panhandlers and homeless. It was not like it is today, but they were in ample supply back then too. I spent many of days doing business downtown and the sidewalks were filled with people. The panhandlers would stand near the buildings and so I tried to walk in the curb area to avoid their pursuit. For some reason, many would cut through the crowd to get to me. I wondered why but my wife says I have that kind of face. I would give a dollar to almost all who would approach me because I never knew who really needed help and who did not.
More recently, my wife and I went downtown on a Sunday for dinner. We could not find parking near the restaurant and so we parked blocks away. The homeless were everywhere but none were pandhandling. We actually had to walk off the sidewalk to get past one or two lying on the walkway. The experience was overwhelming relating to the past when we thought things were bad then. However compared to today, the problem is massive.
Back then, after going to noon mass one day with a friend at the downtown cathedral, a pandhandler asked us for some money for food. I was ready to give him my normal dollar contribution but my friend who happened to be my boss was new at the game and insisted on taking the panhandler for a cup of soup in the church's cafeteria. Our new friend agreed and we took him into the cafeteria but soon we were surrounded by the workers there and we were quickly ushered out of the cafeteria. My boss was dismayed at this response at the main cathedral in he city. We took our new friend with us to find him help. We spent the next hour or so driving around seeking a place to leave him. We ended up a Stella Maris, an agency that helps the downtrodden. They knew our friend as a past client who went through rehab more than once. They took him in again while they smiled at us for our complete naivete about the situation, but thought we had at least gave it try. They told us our guest would have most likely thrown up the soup in the cafeteria if we were successful in getting the soup for him after he was drinking for some time.
Soon after this encounter , I experienced another situation that profoundly affected me forever. I was backing out of a parking lot on a very busy street downtown. I had to wait at the curb trying to break into the traffic with my window rolled down when I saw in the background a new friend coming down the side walk headed directly for me. I could not get out into the street in time and the panhandler leaned over and asked me for some money as our faces met each other at a very close range. My wallet was in my back pocket and I would have had to get out of the car to get to it for a usual contribution of a dollar. And so I just slowly pulled out into traffic and told him I would pray for him. He shouted back - That's right , you do the praying and I will do the walk . He kept repeating this in a loud voice as I drove away shouting the phrase over and over again - That's right, you do the praying and I will do the walk. As he faded away into the background his dirty gray sillhoutte slowly turned into a bright light color as the sun broke through the high office buildings. I suddenly realized how someone else did the walk for me. It was of course - Jesus!
I still do not know what to do or how to discern a professional pandhandler from a person in real need. The homeless population keeps growing downtown while the crowds of people doing business has dwindled. The top newspaper writers write the same way and the politicians still talk about controlling the situation with little results. The flow of "clients" have new places to seek handouts. The flow of the general population around the old cathedral has diminished too. However, the new professional basketball arena and the new baseball stadium are now centrally located downtown. The new "cathedrals" are dedicated to professional sports and I surmise that many budget a dollar for contributions when they come downtown to attend the "sports liturgies" of our times. And they have to be careful they do not park far away from the sports facilities.
The question of what to do about the panhandlers and homeless remains. I do not think Jesus attends the sports events but under the circumstances, he may just do that hidded in a face of one of the "unnetted". And we really do not know who is doing the walk while we talk - do we? In the global economic arena, more are losing than winning. Work and labor remain to be the stepchildren of philosophy and religion.
There was a time when the downtown area hosted many international corporate offices. A salesman could stay downtown for days just calling on all the accounts. Even during those days, we had many panhandlers and homeless. It was not like it is today, but they were in ample supply back then too. I spent many of days doing business downtown and the sidewalks were filled with people. The panhandlers would stand near the buildings and so I tried to walk in the curb area to avoid their pursuit. For some reason, many would cut through the crowd to get to me. I wondered why but my wife says I have that kind of face. I would give a dollar to almost all who would approach me because I never knew who really needed help and who did not.
More recently, my wife and I went downtown on a Sunday for dinner. We could not find parking near the restaurant and so we parked blocks away. The homeless were everywhere but none were pandhandling. We actually had to walk off the sidewalk to get past one or two lying on the walkway. The experience was overwhelming relating to the past when we thought things were bad then. However compared to today, the problem is massive.
Back then, after going to noon mass one day with a friend at the downtown cathedral, a pandhandler asked us for some money for food. I was ready to give him my normal dollar contribution but my friend who happened to be my boss was new at the game and insisted on taking the panhandler for a cup of soup in the church's cafeteria. Our new friend agreed and we took him into the cafeteria but soon we were surrounded by the workers there and we were quickly ushered out of the cafeteria. My boss was dismayed at this response at the main cathedral in he city. We took our new friend with us to find him help. We spent the next hour or so driving around seeking a place to leave him. We ended up a Stella Maris, an agency that helps the downtrodden. They knew our friend as a past client who went through rehab more than once. They took him in again while they smiled at us for our complete naivete about the situation, but thought we had at least gave it try. They told us our guest would have most likely thrown up the soup in the cafeteria if we were successful in getting the soup for him after he was drinking for some time.
Soon after this encounter , I experienced another situation that profoundly affected me forever. I was backing out of a parking lot on a very busy street downtown. I had to wait at the curb trying to break into the traffic with my window rolled down when I saw in the background a new friend coming down the side walk headed directly for me. I could not get out into the street in time and the panhandler leaned over and asked me for some money as our faces met each other at a very close range. My wallet was in my back pocket and I would have had to get out of the car to get to it for a usual contribution of a dollar. And so I just slowly pulled out into traffic and told him I would pray for him. He shouted back - That's right , you do the praying and I will do the walk . He kept repeating this in a loud voice as I drove away shouting the phrase over and over again - That's right, you do the praying and I will do the walk. As he faded away into the background his dirty gray sillhoutte slowly turned into a bright light color as the sun broke through the high office buildings. I suddenly realized how someone else did the walk for me. It was of course - Jesus!
I still do not know what to do or how to discern a professional pandhandler from a person in real need. The homeless population keeps growing downtown while the crowds of people doing business has dwindled. The top newspaper writers write the same way and the politicians still talk about controlling the situation with little results. The flow of "clients" have new places to seek handouts. The flow of the general population around the old cathedral has diminished too. However, the new professional basketball arena and the new baseball stadium are now centrally located downtown. The new "cathedrals" are dedicated to professional sports and I surmise that many budget a dollar for contributions when they come downtown to attend the "sports liturgies" of our times. And they have to be careful they do not park far away from the sports facilities.
The question of what to do about the panhandlers and homeless remains. I do not think Jesus attends the sports events but under the circumstances, he may just do that hidded in a face of one of the "unnetted". And we really do not know who is doing the walk while we talk - do we? In the global economic arena, more are losing than winning. Work and labor remain to be the stepchildren of philosophy and religion.
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