Walking with my daughter and me along the streets of New York, my wife came across someone dressed up like Sesame Street’s Elmo character. She chased him down and called out for me to take a quick “Melissa and Elmo” photo. To which I obliged, after which Elmo chased ME down with a pouch for a “donation”. I flicked a little money in for Elmo’s grand cause (whatever the hell it was) and walked on, thinking of an upcoming blog article I would be able to write about NYC being the “hands-out” city.
The Lincoln Center performance of South Pacific we attended (at the Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater) was enchanting and dazzling. We were impressed by the receding front stage that jutted out into the audience, bringing the play intimately close to us while concealing (and occasionally revealing) the talented orchestra playing underneath. Outstanding acting, singing, choreography: everything was quite impressive. So was the ending, with the intricately produced traditional introduction of the cast with their bowing and the audience’s enthusiastic applause. Then right at the close, one of the actors grabbed the microphone and said that the cast members would be standing all throughout the lobby area with buckets to collect for some kind of homeless-AIDS-hodgepodge-etcetera charity drive, so don’t be a “stingy bastard” (a line from the play)! And sure enough, everywhere we turned upon exiting, there was a familiar actor holding a red bucket up at us.
All up and down the streets of Midtown Manhattan there were people pleading for donations to help the homeless. No problem; after a while, we had numbed ourselves to the widespread presence of people “doing good deeds” by panhandling for donations. I think I would rather have been accosted by a good old-fashioned beggar looking out for his own interests than all of these self-righteous do-gooders with smiles on their faces, nonstop self-righteous pleading, and their hands in my pocket.
Nowadays, it seems to be O.K. to pressure people out in public for money as long as you can claim to represent some kind of high-sounding cause. Never mind that people have plenty of resources through which they can budget their own charitable donations (like United Way). You’re also expected to shovel out the dough just for the privilege of walking down a street. Or having just put out a large sum on a play, that apparently means that you’re rich, have money to burn, and a few more bucks won’t hurt (unless you are one of those “stingy bastards”, of course).
I don’t resent panhandlers asking for money to help themselves out. Likewise, I was all “on board” with service providers like tour bus drivers and guides asking for reasonable tips as a legitimate part of their income. Cool. But I did resent this omnipresent guilt-mongering, wheedling of the public for their money to prop up whatever God-almighty-goody-goody cause anyone could concoct. Maybe, though, there is a system here. Could it be that, in exchange for cleaning the streets of the panhandlers, they would be substituted by a “higher order” of panhandling that would spread the proceeds down to those who had been kicked off the streets? But then maybe I’m trying to read a reasonable explanation into something that isn’t reasonable. Also, I think I understand something about why some people are homeless and destitute, completely out of sync with organized society. Those people might well not be around to collect on the “dole” handed out by these street-side donation pressure drives.
The impression I get is that, no matter what you do, it isn’t enough; you’re a selfish, “stingy bastard”. Shame on me for even complaining.
Annoying. Oops, I complained again; shame on me for being so insensitive.
The Lincoln Center performance of South Pacific we attended (at the Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater) was enchanting and dazzling. We were impressed by the receding front stage that jutted out into the audience, bringing the play intimately close to us while concealing (and occasionally revealing) the talented orchestra playing underneath. Outstanding acting, singing, choreography: everything was quite impressive. So was the ending, with the intricately produced traditional introduction of the cast with their bowing and the audience’s enthusiastic applause. Then right at the close, one of the actors grabbed the microphone and said that the cast members would be standing all throughout the lobby area with buckets to collect for some kind of homeless-AIDS-hodgepodge-etcetera charity drive, so don’t be a “stingy bastard” (a line from the play)! And sure enough, everywhere we turned upon exiting, there was a familiar actor holding a red bucket up at us.
All up and down the streets of Midtown Manhattan there were people pleading for donations to help the homeless. No problem; after a while, we had numbed ourselves to the widespread presence of people “doing good deeds” by panhandling for donations. I think I would rather have been accosted by a good old-fashioned beggar looking out for his own interests than all of these self-righteous do-gooders with smiles on their faces, nonstop self-righteous pleading, and their hands in my pocket.
Nowadays, it seems to be O.K. to pressure people out in public for money as long as you can claim to represent some kind of high-sounding cause. Never mind that people have plenty of resources through which they can budget their own charitable donations (like United Way). You’re also expected to shovel out the dough just for the privilege of walking down a street. Or having just put out a large sum on a play, that apparently means that you’re rich, have money to burn, and a few more bucks won’t hurt (unless you are one of those “stingy bastards”, of course).
I don’t resent panhandlers asking for money to help themselves out. Likewise, I was all “on board” with service providers like tour bus drivers and guides asking for reasonable tips as a legitimate part of their income. Cool. But I did resent this omnipresent guilt-mongering, wheedling of the public for their money to prop up whatever God-almighty-goody-goody cause anyone could concoct. Maybe, though, there is a system here. Could it be that, in exchange for cleaning the streets of the panhandlers, they would be substituted by a “higher order” of panhandling that would spread the proceeds down to those who had been kicked off the streets? But then maybe I’m trying to read a reasonable explanation into something that isn’t reasonable. Also, I think I understand something about why some people are homeless and destitute, completely out of sync with organized society. Those people might well not be around to collect on the “dole” handed out by these street-side donation pressure drives.
The impression I get is that, no matter what you do, it isn’t enough; you’re a selfish, “stingy bastard”. Shame on me for even complaining.
Annoying. Oops, I complained again; shame on me for being so insensitive.
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