Interrupted
All I wanted to do was get some groceries, a bite to eat and then head back to the Geez office for a board meeting. I had conquered the grocery-getting and was working on satisfying the rumbling in my stomach when my oh-so-simple plan was interrupted.
Yesterday at Safeway an older woman in a navy windbreaker, sweatpants, neon skirt and torn sneakers shuffled her way around the tables by the Starbucks station. She held out her hand that contained a quarter and a dime to a guy enjoying a coffee and a newspaper. He looked up at her with wide eyes and then furrowed brow as he tried to make out her slurred words and muffled sounds. He soon looked back at his newspaper and the woman became invisible.
She tried her luck with the next man sitting alone who had already been shifting in his chair. He was staring so intensely at his book without blinking and I began to wonder if he was attempting to see through it to the scuffed-up floor below. Obviously the woman would get nowhere with this guy and so she dropped her hand by her side and continued her shuffling.
I was the only option left and so new I was next. She came to me without making eye contact and went for round three. Thirty-five cents rested in her palm and crooked fingers. I couldn’t understand her but knew by her outstretched arm that she wanted money.
“What do you want money for,” I asked. I admit that I was suspicious of where she might spend it. She mumbled something and then pointed to my partially eaten sandwich. Instead of giving money I offered to share my sandwich with her. She gladly accepted, sat down next to me and took a bite. She picked up a mustard packet and attempted to open it but her fingers were her own enemy. She handed it to me and opened her sandwich.
We sat in silence for the most part as conversation seemed pointless. I asked her if she liked her sandwich. Without a word, she looked at me in the eyes for the first time and as the corners of her mouth turned upwards she exposed her four teeth. Her eyes twinkled and she reminded me of a child who was holding in a secret she wanted to tell so badly.
Panhandling is forcing people to look and think about poverty. It is hard to ignore when it stares you in the face and asks for money.
Some, especially business owners, say we need to combat panhandlers, or at least not encourage them because they scare people, threaten their safety and drive business away. See here.
Other communities, Like Bloomington, put legislation in place to curb “aggressive panhandling.” In Bloomington, “aggressive” includes approaching an individual who is “in the sidewalk dining area of a restaurant.”
I haven’t seen them yet, but apparently Winnipeg is experimenting with kiosks operated by the downtown business folks to solicit money for employment programs, such as those offered by The Salvation Army.
Are these appropriate human-to-human responses to physical need? Street minster Shane Claiborne, suggests that Christians not use “brokers” to provide hospitality to strangers in need, but to do it directly ourselves, as Christ demonstrated. “When the church becomes a place of brokerage rather than an organic community, she ceases to be alive,” he says.
When we rely on agencies (soup kitchens, homeless shelters, etc.) the “rich and poor are kept in separate worlds and inequality is carefully managed but not dismantled,” says Claiborne in Irresistible Revolution, page 159.
The Columbus Catholic Worker says, “There are no easy answers to panhandling. This is why the Catholic Worker movement has always stressed the importance of personal involvement with the poor.” I’m still confused by it all. But I know I’m not alone.
5 Comments
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Thanks for sharing this story, and a balanced look at the issue. This summer in Mexico I was approached by a man begging for money outside a store. I gave him 10 pesos ($1). The kids saw him later with a Coke and a smoke. I kinda wished I’d taken the extra time to purchase something more nutritional for him. However I don’t regret giving him the money. It’s easy to find ways to blame poor people for the situation they are in – irresponsibility, laziness, poor choices…. and I can imagine the same true in Jesus day…
People who receive grace and mercy don’t need to deserve it… thankfully. :)
God bless.
Jon December 5th, 2009 2:31am
As our family explores hands-on faith we find ourselves in some situations like the one you experienced in Starbucks ~ encounters with people who’s lives are more complicated, less financially blessed than our own.
My husband and I (try to) start our day by asking, “God what are you doing? Where are You already at work today? Can we join You there?” Despite our bubble-like suburban life, that prayer is most-often answered by an encounter with someone who has experienced less good fortune than we have.
Years ago, when these “floating encounters” (fleeting communications between ourselves and folks that we will, likely, never see again) started we wrestled with when to give money, when to give time, when to withhold. Now, we don’t really give it a second thought.
We ask lots of questions as these friends have stories that can only teach us, and that always remind us of the relative ease of our own lives. Their stories are riddled with the shame that dogs addictions, the fear that encompasses homelessness, hunger, untreated mental illness. Having listened first, we give what we have. “What do you need right now?” is our reflex question. Then, “When we’re talking with our God today, is there anything we can join you in asking Him for?” Most often, their prayer is for courage. For hope. For the children they aren’t permitted to see and for the loved ones that no longer want them around.
I make a point of touching them ~ This is a point of struggle for me as they don’t have the easy access to the warm water and soap that you and I so unthinkingly enjoy every day. Their hands are caked with layered soil and grime. I offer my hand to them. Every time. I learn their names. This is not a noble thing. It is the right thing and, I am ashamed to say, it did not come effortlessly for many, many such encounters.
Teeth or no teeth, matching clothes or no, easy use of language or frustrated mumbles, these neighbors are an ongoing gift in our lives. As our family tries to figure out what loving God wholly lives like, and as we stumble around the practice of “loving our neighbor as ourselves,” we try to worry less about policy and propriety and more about filling a hungry tummy, touching an isolated heart; we’re working at setting our own tendancy toward self-righteousness and ignorance aside. One outstretched hand at a time.
Sandra December 5th, 2009 5:58am
This is the stuff the church needs to understand. Real love gets involved and is willing to touch these people with real needs. I’ve still got a long ways to go.
Roy December 26th, 2009 10:00am
Thank you so much for your comments. I know I find it helpful to hear how others find ways to navigate through the often mysterious waters of life. It is also an encouragement to hear that people do love and do have compassion.
AIden Enns December 31st, 2009 1:23am
I have had similar experiences. When I was in India over two years ago I was often approached by people in need. The first reaction I had was to become very hard because it was just too overwhelming to let myself see the desperation around me. One day it just hit me when a mother and child came pleading for water. Their need was so basic, yet so hard for them to find. The easy thing was to just give money. My friend, Roy Joy, would faithfully take those asking for money to a nearby fruit or vegetable stand and buy them a few items. It is so great that we have friends we can learn from.
AIden Enns December 31st, 2009 1:29am