So I'm coming into work this morning and as I'm waiting to cross the street in front of the Rideau Centre, I'm accosted by this young fellow who wants to know if I'd be interested in "financing a bit of breakfast for him", as he put it. I looked him up and down and stated, loud enough for those around me to hear as well: "I can see young fella, that you still have all four of your limbs... I suggest you go find yourself a fucking job if you want to eat!" He then proceded to try and bullshit me that he had recently broken his arm and he couldn't return to his dishwashing job because of that. His 'broken' arm was working just fine for all the gesticulating he was doing to explain his story, mind you...
I told him I simply didn't want to hear it and that he should save his weak-assed stories for those equally weak-minded people who might actually be conned by such an outrageous piece of fiction. I see these losers every single day, but today I just felt compelled to say something besides the almost-Pavlovian 'Fuck off...' response. This may have been due to me watching an installment of The Fifth Estate last night, which covered a week in the medical unit at the Kandahar Airbase. I watched a procession of our young lads,
coalition forces and Afghanis, injured and maimed by Taliban IEDs and small arms fire, cycle through the facility. Some made it, some didn't... All of them were made of far stronger and nobler stuff than this young waste of skin. And here was this young lad, hale and healthy, asking me for a handout... The gall...
Like many other major urban cities, Ottawa has seen a ridiculous growth in the number of beggars who harrass residents and tourists alike on our streets. There are some who are actually belligerent towards their prospective targets. I have not experienced this first-hand, mind you... you can only guess as to how that might turn out. "Honest, Officer... he was bleeding profusely when I found him sprawled on the sidewalk...". But negotiating the downtown and Market sectors, has now turned into walking a gauntlet.
By the way, I do make somewhat of a distinction between the homeless and the hordes of panhandlers out there. For the homeless, there are social programs on a municipal and provincial level which are there for the homeless to benefit from.
Many people have written editorials in local papers, asking for an explanation to this phenomenon. The answer of course is simplicity itself. The reason why we have so many beggars on the streets is because: PEOPLE KEEP GIVING THEM MONEY!!! Seriously... It's not rocket science. These clowns have discovered that if you have the balls to sit on a street corner and ask people who work to support you as well, there are a good percentage of these fucking morons who actually will. What's that? You think my calling them "fucking morons" is a little harsh? Perhaps a little judgemental on my part? Well, let's face it... they absolutely are! Their actions are negatively affecting all of us. To say nothing of their encouraging bad behaviour and thwarting the process of natural selection.
Nature says that if you're too lazy to get off your ass and provide for yourself, you're going to starve. But wait, these panhandlers are only doing what any good parasitic life form would do. They are surviving at the expense of their "host". Their hosts seem to believe that by giving money to these beggars, they are helping them "survive so they can make it off the streets". Yes, they really are so stupid as to believe this. They have absolutely no intention of "getting off the streets". They make better money than you do during the run of a week. Or maybe they think somehow that this will make them a better person. No... it just makes you a mark. I don't know about anyone else out there, but I work appreciably hard for my money. I put in my hours. I don't do so in order to give my money away to total strangers, who expect me to provide for their livelihood. Surely to God I can't be the only person to see the insanity in doing this? How detached are these people from reality, that they don't realize how much of an insult their request would be to even a semi-intelligent person? I suppose it's fortunate for them that such persons are becoming a scarecity in this town.
So there you have it. If you stop feeding the roaches, they will have to move on to greener pastures for their survival. It's the only way to reclaim our city, unless of course you really want to go the way of the Brazilian police and how they deal with the hundreds of homeless little street urchins in their major cities...
I told him I simply didn't want to hear it and that he should save his weak-assed stories for those equally weak-minded people who might actually be conned by such an outrageous piece of fiction. I see these losers every single day, but today I just felt compelled to say something besides the almost-Pavlovian 'Fuck off...' response. This may have been due to me watching an installment of The Fifth Estate last night, which covered a week in the medical unit at the Kandahar Airbase. I watched a procession of our young lads,
coalition forces and Afghanis, injured and maimed by Taliban IEDs and small arms fire, cycle through the facility. Some made it, some didn't... All of them were made of far stronger and nobler stuff than this young waste of skin. And here was this young lad, hale and healthy, asking me for a handout... The gall...
Like many other major urban cities, Ottawa has seen a ridiculous growth in the number of beggars who harrass residents and tourists alike on our streets. There are some who are actually belligerent towards their prospective targets. I have not experienced this first-hand, mind you... you can only guess as to how that might turn out. "Honest, Officer... he was bleeding profusely when I found him sprawled on the sidewalk...". But negotiating the downtown and Market sectors, has now turned into walking a gauntlet.
By the way, I do make somewhat of a distinction between the homeless and the hordes of panhandlers out there. For the homeless, there are social programs on a municipal and provincial level which are there for the homeless to benefit from.
Many people have written editorials in local papers, asking for an explanation to this phenomenon. The answer of course is simplicity itself. The reason why we have so many beggars on the streets is because: PEOPLE KEEP GIVING THEM MONEY!!! Seriously... It's not rocket science. These clowns have discovered that if you have the balls to sit on a street corner and ask people who work to support you as well, there are a good percentage of these fucking morons who actually will. What's that? You think my calling them "fucking morons" is a little harsh? Perhaps a little judgemental on my part? Well, let's face it... they absolutely are! Their actions are negatively affecting all of us. To say nothing of their encouraging bad behaviour and thwarting the process of natural selection.
Nature says that if you're too lazy to get off your ass and provide for yourself, you're going to starve. But wait, these panhandlers are only doing what any good parasitic life form would do. They are surviving at the expense of their "host". Their hosts seem to believe that by giving money to these beggars, they are helping them "survive so they can make it off the streets". Yes, they really are so stupid as to believe this. They have absolutely no intention of "getting off the streets". They make better money than you do during the run of a week. Or maybe they think somehow that this will make them a better person. No... it just makes you a mark. I don't know about anyone else out there, but I work appreciably hard for my money. I put in my hours. I don't do so in order to give my money away to total strangers, who expect me to provide for their livelihood. Surely to God I can't be the only person to see the insanity in doing this? How detached are these people from reality, that they don't realize how much of an insult their request would be to even a semi-intelligent person? I suppose it's fortunate for them that such persons are becoming a scarecity in this town.
So there you have it. If you stop feeding the roaches, they will have to move on to greener pastures for their survival. It's the only way to reclaim our city, unless of course you really want to go the way of the Brazilian police and how they deal with the hundreds of homeless little street urchins in their major cities...
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