Homeless Assistance Please, Steemit!
Hello. I'm going to tell you a story, but it's going to be simple and vague, because the person in question is extremely private.
Near my house, there is an old lady who stands out on the street every day. She has a medical condition that required extremely expensive treatment. Now, she has no choice but to go out on the street and beg in order to avoid losing her home after digging herself into a hole trying to pay the medical fees.
I asked this lady if I could interview her, and explained that I could post it on Steemit and give her the earnings. However, she declined, saying that she is a private person. "Interview me about what, anyway?" she asked suspiciously.
"Oh, well, um, just how you got here and what it's like asking people for money--"
"I'm not asking for money," she replied sharply. "I'm just holding a sign that asks for help. If you want to interview someone on the street, try one of these other guys...I'm sure they'd be happy to help you." So this way I found out that she is extremely proud and does not want to be compared with homeless people. I can't imagine how much it must hurt her to feel forced to beg on the streets this way.
Several weeks have passed since then. Every time I pass her, we talk and I give her a dollar. She always says she hopes I have a good night. She hopes I stay dry. When I ask how it's going, she always talks about the mood of people, not how much money they give her.
Today, I gave her $5 because I hadn't had any cash the last couple times I passed her. She looked at the bill with a mixture of relief and pain. She looked at me half as if to say, "No, you keep this." Then she said, as I walked away, "God bless you!!!"
This was the impetus for me writing this. I don't want to betray her trust. But I feel like this post is so vague that her anonymity is preserved. And frankly I can't really bear watching it anymore. She isn't wrong to feel like she's different from most of the other people on the street. For one thing, she's a very old woman who obviously isn't familiar with this kind of life. Nobody should have to beg on the street, but she is particularly out of place. I'm sure if she winds up losing wherever she lives she would never survive out there. She's probably too proud to even go to a shelter. It gets colder every day.
So, I am asking you to please upvote this post for her. I will give her everything it earns. I'll simply tell her that I made a general post about homelessness. If she won't accept it, I'll just give her larger amounts when I pass her until I've given all of it to her.
I was in a spot not too long ago when I needed to put pride aside and ask for help. Sadly, I ended up losing my home anyway, but I'm staying positive as I wasn't technically homeless...we were able to afford a motel room until new housing could be found. That being said, you have my upvote and I think it's wonderful that you're helping her. Maybe there are other community services available as well?
Is this in America? It sucks things like this happens in one of the most developed countries. I feel like we need some real health care system reform.
Agreed. We need the state to not dictate to health care providers the way in which they can provide care, and let them offer their services however they see fit to do it.
Not everybody is a young, able bodied male though. There are people who cannot compete effectively enough to earn their continued survival. Without a safety net, they would die.
I understand that, and I sincerely doubt that there are not enough people who feel the same way you and I do about it that we couldn't address this issue. In fact, I would argue that with more wealth in the hands of individuals not being sucked into unproductive ventures by the state, there would be less human suffering for people who are unable to take care of themselves.
Another thing to keep in mind is that there are state boards that restrict who and where hospitals can be built, based on arbitrary measures of "necessity." Wouldn't it serve people better to have many more, perhaps smaller, clinics dotted across the landscape, unburdened by towers of paperwork that inhibit, rather than facilitate, the care of patients by the providers?
In case people are watching this, I haven't been back home for a few days, but since this post only paid out less than 20 USD, I'm just going to hand her a $20 bill next time I see her. Will post here concerning her reaction.