Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Guest Blog: Blair Allen
I had never really thought about how many homeless people wandered Franklin Street until last weekend when I was pestered for “spare change” countless times. This got me to thinking about why all these people chose Franklin Street to sleep on, rather than some back street that was unpopulated. I obviously understand that Franklin Street is populated, but even these homeless people honestly believe that college kids have extra money to give can they? I came to the conclusion that these men and women are so common on Franklin because for some reason college students are most likely to feel sympathy for them, making them more likely to earn some pocket change. Parents constantly tell their kids, “don’t talk to strangers,” but on a college campus there are no parents; only kids who apparently feel sympathy for these homeless people. Homeless people on Franklin have become famous in a sense. Everyone knows about the man in the wheelchair and the man with the dog who does tricks. I know two girls who dressed up as the homeless man and the dog for a costume party. It is not as though were afraid of them, we welcome them and I have seen an infinite amount of people give up the remaining change from their dinner to one of them. There are the genuinely kind people who give to the homeless out of the goodness of their heart, there are the sorority girls who will give if they think someone is watching and they are wearing a shirt bearing their sororities’ name, and I even know a guy who swiped a homeless man into Lenoir to eat dinner. This guy actually walked to Franklin before he ate, found a hungry homeless person, swiped him in, and took him upstairs to eat with him. From what I heard people were horrified. Honestly I don’t know why, because I would be willing to bet that homeless man enjoyed the food at Lenoir far more than I ever have. Overall, I certainly do not mind the homeless people, and never will until I have a bad experience with one. I do not necessarily give money every time I pass by one, but I do try to at least give a friendly smile. When you think about it, they are people just like us; only without the luxuries we take for granted every day.
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You know how I feel about the homeless people. They kind of freak me out. It seemed like for some unknown reason the homeless people are attracted to me. Like I have some kind of homeless person tracking beacon strapped on my back. I swear I can be in pack of 100 kids walking down Franklin St. and for some reason they will overlook everyone I am with and ask me for change. I never have spare change either, that what I don’t understand, it is not they see me giving change to other homeless people and figure I am giving everyone change, I think I have only given change once. One guy made me especially mad one time, I walked past him on the way to meet a friend and he asked me for change, then like 1 minute later I walked back by and he singled me out again for change.
ReplyDeleteI have two different opinions concerning the homeless people on Franklin Street. A part of me feels bad that they have no money, no home, and sometimes no food. However, there is a fine line between being nice and hitting on me. I can't stand it when they call me "baby", "sweetie", or "sugar." I would feel more inclined to give change to someone who seemed like they genuinely needed it. It makes me feel uncomfortable most of the time because they have this look in their eyes that reads wanting and not needing. I had one experience where a man hit on me and then preceded to follow me for a couple of blocks. I didn’t give him money in the first place because I didn’t get a good vibe from him, and my gut feeling turned out to be right. I always give people the benefit of the doubt because some people are just down on their luck. However, if I was in their position, I would be courteous enough to not make the people I’m asking money from uncomfortable.
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