I was in NYC this week for a doctor's appointment and ended up giving away all of the cash I had in my wallet to homeless people I saw as I walked around the city. And no, I wasn't robbed or accosted.
This isn't a post about how virtuous I am compared to the average jaded New Yorker casually walking past someone eating food out of the trash can in broad daylight (yes I saw this and gave this person some money). I had less than $40 in cash on me, so it's not as though I was lifting people out of poverty in any meaningful way. I'm not Bill Gates (yet). But I do want to talk about why I think everyone else on the street ignored the homeless, and why I think I didn't.
There are many reasons why people choose to ignore the homeless. Most people I ask believe the money will go towards satiating whatever drug addiction they are currently in the grips of (assuming that is the reason for their current condition), and if that is truly the case, providing them the means to purchase more of whatever drug might actually be harming them in the long run. Others ignore them simply because they are busy, prefer not to interact with them, or simply because ignoring homeless people is what everyone does culturally in this country.
I think there's a kernel of truth to the first reason, though obviously as a blanket generalization it's false. You'd have to approach it on a case by case basis or at least make smaller geographically constrained claims of that sort, since in my casual and unprofessional observation, high drug use seems to cluster around certain neighborhoods in big cities, and it's obvious when you're in that part of the city. I probably wouldn't give money to a homeless person in Kensington, but I have in other parts of Philly. The other reasons I listed just reflect the default current state of being in American society. I don't fault anyone for any of those reasons. So why did I give away my money especially when I didn't know them, don't live in NYC, don't ever plan to live in NYC, and will likely never see them again?
All three of those last reasons probably contributed. The incentives are strange. If I lived somewhere and there was a homeless individual close by, I probably wouldn't want people to provide money to that individual because I would perhaps be under the impression that it would encourage other homeless individuals to come to the area looking to benefit from the generosity shown to that first individual. Or perhaps just encourage that individual to stay in my area, and depress my property values (the main source of wealth accumulation in the America) or just generally depress the vibe that there is no suffering in USA. Whereas, a complete stranger passing through that area feels no such consequence from giving money to a homeless individual, and likely just sees the situation as someone in need in that moment.
Also interesting is that I feel less of an emotional attachment to giving up cash than I do to the digital numbers on my bank account. Nominally there is no difference, but my brain does seem to impose one. This might be something unique to my generation, Generation Z, as I have heard friends make comments to the effect that cash is not "real money". Also likely contributing to why I did what I did was the fact that the alternative was losing that same cash in poker with my dorm mates regardless, so why not give it to someone who could put it to better use, but this is ex post facto reasoning I came up with just now.
Last but not least, I try to be Christian ("Christ-like"), and so that probably played a subconscious role. I will note that Google says half of NYC is Christian, so I would be surprised if all those people on the street with me who ignored the homeless were all non-Christian.
I don't have a solution to end homelessness, or even know where to begin to be honest. Maybe some people "choose" to be homeless, but I think the vast majority of people would rather not sleep on the streets of New York. I didn't know their stories, or why they were homeless, and frankly I didn't really care. I wasn’t there to pass judgement or to figure out how deserving they were for $10 in ones. All I know is that if I were in a situation where I was begging for money or eating food out of a trashcan on the streets of New York I must really be in the shit. At the end of the day, I’m still someone’s brother and son (and hopefully in the future someone’s father). And I would hope, no, pray that in the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country on the planet (ever) I would be extended some grace.
If not there, then where?