English 50 18 October, 2011 Helpless In the story "Charity Means You Can't Pick and Choose" by Patricia OHara,

OHara te aches her son about the principle of charity. OHaras son is five seeing his first homeless man on the curb while he and his mother are visiting museums in Washing ton D.C. OHaras son is shocked because the man is asking for his doggie bag, and o nly after his mother gives him permission to does OHaras son feel comfortable abou t approaching the homeless man. OHara ignores a rude and intense comment by a man walking with two teenagers, "It d be better if they got a job. OHara chose to dis regard the comment to teach her son about the principles of charity despite the objections of others. OHara later describes that she is more comfortable giving w hen she does not know the person receiving then directly giving. "Hollywood tend s to portray the homeless as lovable rogues", when this is actually the opposite , lowly motivated people scamming the system and often steal and take advantage of people s generosity. OHara believes that the time it takes for her to hand out money to the homeless is more of a connection than she wants to make". OHara does not always agree with giving to the homeless, OHara "knows all the intellectual arguments about giving to the homeless. Everyone who gives to the homeless does n ot know the intent of the money, and if they are somehow discouraging the homele ss or creating a dependency. The second encounter with the homeless is when OHara and her son are walking in New York and they spot a man by anyones standard, unsa vory-looking with his dirty clothes and unhealthy skin. OHara and her son pass the man by while OHara is looking to justify her actions with we couldnt possibly give to everyone" but finds herself interrupted by her son "I don t think you should give to people like that." Without realizing what her actions have resulted in, OHara taught her son to discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving po or." On her own, OHara Is in London when she comes across a group of homeless who are sitting on a staircase, and right then she decides to give to anyone who as ks despite the sidelong glances of those who think she is a fool or worse." OHaras son is a teenager and she leaves the decision to give to the homeless to her son and hopes that he makes his own decision despite the thoughts of others. When I think of the homeless in the context of the ill or the addicted; I feel remorse , disgust, and hopeless. When I see the homeless I first feel remorse seeing the struggle the must go thr ough each day. The homeless are the poor who have lost their homes or those who have fallen to their bad habits and addiction, yet all homeless people suffer an d go hungry. OHara believes that pretending that people don t exist and holding ba ck a couple of quarters or a dollar bill feels like a wrong thing to do", and li ke OHara I take it upon myself to help the less fortunate as much as I am able to . La Mesa, California is friendly to the homeless, and because of this I was con stantly reminded of the struggle endured by the homeless. Homeless people often entrap themselves in the drug lifestyle and are difficult to give it up to get b ack on track, and causing many homeless to give up the few things they still hav e and accept the cost. After a certain point in the homeless lifestyle it become s hopeless; the homeless are constantly harassed and helped and their motivation remains at an all-time low. Knowing the background I feel remorse, but I feel t hat I am disgusted by the fact that they have not taken life seriously. The thought of the homeless addicted and constantly destroying their liv es causes my disgust. Generous and kind citizens repetitively go out of their wa y to help and impact the life of the homeless fully knowing that the money given has a high chance of being consumed through substance abuse. OHara states that th e person, asking for money is often suffering the effects of illness or addictio n", meaning the money being received by the homeless meant for change and food i s funding an ongoing addiction. I have a cousin who has quit on his education an d has chosen the life of an addict. Arrogantly surrounded him with losers and ev entually put him in the streets. I recently saw my cousin I m town begging and w alking aimlessly while visiting family, I myself did not talk to him because he not only hurt himself but my whole family. I feel disgust when I see my cousin a nd any homeless reminding me of the little hope I have in the homeless.

I have little belief that homeless people will in fact recover their life and I fell hopeless that with all the help we give and push upon them. The homeless ar e constantly helped by the city and state with shelters and food distribution, a nd the money citizens go out of their way to help with. I used to live next to a n Arco gas station where there were many homeless living behind, and among them was a man named Jim who used to live down the street. Jim was a friend of my par ents so we constantly helped him and invited him over for meals and holidays. Th e reason that Jim never recovered and got his life back in balance was because e very penny he received went towards alcohol. Jim was a recovering alcoholic who no matter how many visits to rehab, always ended up relapsing and was found behi nd that Arco station. At the time I did not understand why one minute Jim would speak of change and another be back to destroying his life. Reflecting on this e xperience, I could say that its a tough habit to break and some people fall harde r and farther than others. Not seeing Jim for the last seven years, I could assu me the worst and I regretfully say that I have little hope in the recovery of th e homeless. In conclusion I feel remorse, disgust, and hopeless when I think of the homeless . I feel remorse for the pain and struggle the homeless endure each day, and how the homeless aimlessly wander rock-bottom. The majority of people are kind hear ted towards the homeless and set up shelters and give food, clothes, and money i n the aid to support the homeless. The problem with these programs is that it cr eates a dependency on other people, and the homeless are free to feed addiction. The lifestyle of a homeless addict causes my disgust in a way that they cannot pull themselves back on track. A factor such as substance abuse and criminal act ivity among the homeless contributes towards the dependency carried by the homel ess. I find that the effort to aid the homeless is hopeless in the idea that the majority often won t change or can t change. In the end it is not my decision t o aid or not aid the homeless because everyone must carry their own ideals about whether aid helps or hurts the homeless.