It is my policy to normally ignore beggar people because I give to the local shelters. Give to one and help many seems a good idea. Not that it matters since I very rarely carry cash since credit is so much easier and more convenient.
I walked up to the local area restaurants and see the crazy old woman in blackface makeup (she could just be really dirty but it looks like she has shoe polish all over her face). I hear her mumble something about Halloween. I have seen her before without the shoe polish all over her face so I shrug it off to the general crazy population and go and eat lunch.
I get out and have to walk past her again. She stands directly in front of me blocking my path so I stop. She immediately says, “Give me a hundred dollars!” Here she is looking like some vaudeville homeless black clown and she is not only asking me for money, but a hundred dollars. At this point I laugh in her face. She is funny looking and has no sense of reality. Sigh. I should really move.
Gee, dorkus, what next? Slanting your eyes and sticking your tongue out in front of people with Down’s Symdrome? That ought to bring you quite the chuckle. After all, they’re funny looking and may not have a great grasp on reality and they’re retarded too.:rolleyes:
I’m not ususally one to swoop down like the PC police, but shit, man (or woman), to laugh in someone’s face, under such circumstances, when you have no way of knowing what brought that woman to that place or what she understands, that’s pretty freakin low. All people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity unless you have some damn strong evidence that they’ve proven otherwise. The attitude you’ve shown in this post is deplorable.
Salem, treat me with dignity and respect, and give me a hundred dollars!
dorkus wasn’t laughing at her, he was laughing at her demand of one hundred dollars and being frank (which I am :)) I would laugh at her too. $100 is not something people give to strangers on a whim.
Frank #2, exactly. I was laughing at the request for me to give her $100. If I see them digging around in the garbage for something to eat, I will offer to buy them something from the hotdog stand and give directions to the shelter/soup kitchen near here where I give money.
That and sometimes you just find yourself living in a moment of surreal absurdity – and you laugh!
My late, 96 yr-old granny’s mind turned to mush when she was 90. She suffered a rare condition that presented itself with symptoms that were a cross between Alzheimers and Tourettes. Her dentures were destroyed from using them as readily accessible, projectile weapons. Without teeth she was hard too understand, but most of the time she was just yelling “Cavrón!” And trying to pinch me.
There were times she made us laugh. Clearly we were not making fun of her. She was well-loved, well-respected and her condition was sometimes hard on the family (she could scream for hours on end), but as with small children, sometimes they are unintentionally comical. My granny spoke heavily accented English. With no teeth it was even worse, but on my last visit while she was alive, she looked at me (not having any idea who I was) and said – without the slightest trace of an accent – “God damn you! Son of a bitch!” We all howled. We laughed at the way she was so emphatic, we laughed at the fact that she was insulting her own grandkid, and we laughed at the fact that she’s never spoken English so clearly in her entire life!
Was that evil and cruel? I don’t think so. It wasn’t about being mean, it was about recognizing the absurdity that life sometimes throws at you.
I worry about the mentally ill when I see them on the street. I’m frightened for them because they can so easily fall prey do nasty people, or become victims of their own irrational acts. But sometimes, they make you laugh.
If the woman Dorkus described, blocked my path and said “spare some change” I would regretfully say “no.” I’d feel bad for her. But if she said “give me a hundred dollars!” I’d probably laugh too. Not maliciously, but rather because it was so preposterously specific. Such irrational behaviour juxtaposed with a clear, specific, and outrageous demand would tickle my funny bone.
I’m amazed. Yes, I can see that being accosted for a hundred dollars would be pretty bizarre and I might chuckle and shake my head at the absurdity. That’s not what was said. “Laughed at”, “Laughed in the face of…” “She was funny looking and had no sense of reality” as though that somehow meant she’s less of a person, not worthy, and it was ok to laugh in her face. Sorry, in my opinion, it’s not. I’ve worked in special needs and mental health too long and seen a lot of people get laughed at because they were different or someone thought it was ok cause they wouldn’t understand anyway. I’ve also seen the victims in tears and humiliated because of the way they were treated.
That woman was someone’s daughter, sister, mother, friend. She could have been anyone of you if your life had taken the wrong turn. As I said, you don’t know what got her there. And I wouldn’t “laugh in your face” either.
I don’t think you understand, Salem. I don’t think he was laughing at her because she was homeless, because she was wearing shoe polish all over her face, or because she was muttering under her breath about Halloween.
He laughed because a complete stranger got in his face and demanded $100. I laughed out loud when I read the story. Not at her, but at the absurity of the situation.
Salem have you ever cared for young children, the aged, or the mentally ill? I have. All three (thank Og, not all at once). And I tell you there are a lot of moments of great levity and humour.
There are many, many moments of unintended comedy, that are just funny. Moments that are incongruous, moments that are outrageous, and moments that are just preposterous and you laugh.
That is not to say you’re being disrespectful or facetious. It is just a matter of circumstances being so absurd that they are humorous.
If you really think that it’s so deplorable to laugh when life gets absurd, try volunteering with mentally handicapped. You’ll find that if you can’t find some laughter in your heart when things get a little too preposterous, you’ll be very unpopular. Sometimes, life is just like that – it is absurd, and it’s funny, and it’s not a crime to laugh.
It’s sounds to me like Dorkus was expecting an experience that was entirely different. When you expect one thing and the opposite happens – well, that kind of incongruity can make you laugh! This woman approached him in her “costume” mumbling incoherently about Hallowe’en, he likely expected some incoherent ranting demand for spare change. Instead, he got a very clearly defined demand for a ridiculous amount of money. So he laughed at the absurdity of the situation.
Is it “right”? Perhaps not, but is Dorkus a bastard? No. He was not laughing at her misfortune (though I agree, he worded his post dreadfully), he was laughing at the sheer weirdness of such a surreal moment.
Salem, you are reading much more into what I said than I meant. I laughed at her suggestion of me parting with 100 bucks. I don’t even know when the last time I had 40 bucks on me much less 100. I don’t carry cash. The way you are talking you make it sound like I should take away the 5% of every monthly paycheck I give to the shelter, take it all away and just give it to this one woman. I don’t think so.
I had an interesting panhandler request just this morning. I am doing jury service at the magnificent DC Courthouse. A homeless man asked me for the paperback book I was carrying. I wasn’t done with it so I regretfully passed on his request. He said “That’s OK, what I really want are books about math. Algebra is best, but anything down to elementary is fine.”
This is one panhandling request I would really like to fulfill. I will have to see if my wife has any spare math textbooks lying around.
My pan-handling moment isn’t especially funny, but it was a nice moment:
Coming back from a demonstration of a large school district’s new cookie-making machine, I had me a plate of 30 chocolate chip cookies for the newsroom.
Stopped at a light, a gaunt homeless guy asks for some change. I give him the plate of cookies instead.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen a face light up like that in my life.
