Why is it that every time I go into NYC it's always an adventure, and in some small part it usually involves someone homeless. You can't go on subway, or walk around Penn station or the Port Authority without being accosted or shocked by what you see sometimes. New Yorkers are pretty jaded, but even we roll our eyes sometimes.
I don't like seeing homeless children or families it hurts to see them down on their luck, but too often it's usually one strange guy or woman begging for money especially around the holidays. There's the all too familiar subway chant, "Attention ladies and gentlemen, I am not a thief, I just want something to eat."
Sometimes we give them money and sometimes not. You look at them and make the evaluation. Will my money be going to help them buy drugs? It's hard to know. There was a time when the homeless would sell Street News. I don't know if that is a paper that's still being sold, but at least it's step in the right direction.
Most recently I went to the city around Christmas time, and there were a lot of homeless people begging on the subway. I think because of the holiday spirit people tend to be more generous.
However, we all have our limits. Especially if they are too aggressive, and sometimes just plain bizarre. Here is one example.
I was going to the Govensport hotel for a singles event and took the number two train downtown. It's express and fortunately wasn't too crowded. I didn't see one homeless person at all.
However when I got to the station it was another matter.
I started walking to the exit which was a metal turnstile when I noticed something odd. On the other side of the turnstile there was a African American man presumably homeless casually reading the paper like he was on the beach. What was strange was that he was wearing a t shirt, but nothing else.
As soon as I spotted him I turned around and started heading for the other exit. I noticed another commuter heading for the exit, however I said nothing. Then I heard an outcry.
"Oh, my god. Oh my god."
The commuter had gone through the turnstile and ran into the bottomless man who was partially blocking the stairs, but because he had already exited the turnstile couldn't go back the way he came, and had to go around the man. I could only imagine his horror, but still I laughed a bit about the exchange and was glad it wasn't me who was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Why is it also that homeless people often seem to use the street as their bathroom? Another time I was on Queens Blvd. in Rego Park, and witnessed another shocking scene.
I was driving with my brother past the Queens Center Mall, and watched a yuppie man talking on his cell phone and walking towards us. In the opposite direction another man, homeless, is walking the other way. In one second I see the homeless man pull down his own pants and starts defecating on the sidewalk. I notice the well dressed man who at first sees nothing and then notices the homeless man and his face goes from laughing on the phone to one of horror as he knows he has to walk around the man relieving himself. My brother and I were horrified than laughed about it too.
My brother in law told me another crazy story about the time his brother Robert was walking up the stairs of his building in Chicago is ,and saw another homeless person on the landing defecating.
"Can I help you?" Robert asked the man.
"Yes," the man replied. "can you get me some toilet paper?"
Robert was stunned, and instead simply called the super.
Life Lesson 121:I think every New Yorker probably has a homeless person story, but the real question why do we have so many homeless?, and what can we do to help them? I blame the fact that the city had a lot of SRO's (single room occupancy apartments) and got rid of them, and probably reduced mental health treatment as well. It is my hope that someday we can make NYC a place where all people can afford to live not just the super rich, and more services for the other forgotten Americans, the homeless. If they ever get the chance to vote along with a place to live, who knows maybe the election and future could have gone differently.
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