Final Reflective Essay Draft 2Bryan Murr

Should I give that homeless man money? This is a question that we have all had to answer at some point in our lives. This is a very difficult question to answer for many reasons. It is almost impossible to know what the man will spend the money on, no one wants to give handouts to a moocher, and there are many more reasons as to why one should not give away money. However, most of us, deep down have some sort of conviction to help those in need because we feel bad for them, or because it will make us feel good about ourselves. Choosing whether or not to give a homeless man money is a moral question that we all should have a clear answer to. At the beginning of this semester, I do not know what my answer would have been to this question. Like many others, I had never really spent that much time thinking about the homeless. Now, I know that my answer to that question is much more complicated than a simple yes or no. There is a major problem with saying yes, you should always give money to the homeless. Obviously, if you know that the man is going to squander his money on useless things that will not benefit him, then it is a waste of money, and it may be hurting him. However, other than a moral conviction, there is not much reason against saying no, you should not give money to the homeless.Victor Greene was one of my favorite teachers in high school because he was different that all of my other teachers. One week he decided to make himself homeless and spend the night among the homeless community of downtown Concord. This social experiment that he performed intrigued me, so I asked him a few questions to get an idea of what it is like to be homeless, and what his thoughts were on homelessness. The first question I asked him was What was it like, how did you feel treated? His response was It was very quite. I felt like more of a fixture in the setting of lives I knew not. I felt a longing to belong to something to have a place of homeness. This was not a very shocking or surprising statement to me. However, this response sort of opened my eyes to how a homeless person feels. This definitely impacted my final answer to the question of whether or not you should give a homeless person money. (Greene)Embedded in my Storify page on homelessness is a video entitled How does a Homeless Man Spend $100? In this video, two guys give a homeless man $100 and secretly follow him to see how he will spend it. The stereotype in this situation is that the man would waste the money on alcohol or drugs. However, this man surprised them when he used the money to go buy food, not only for himself, but also for a community of homeless people who all seemed to be friends. This video shows that there is a sense of community among the homeless. They watch out for each other and take care of each other and share a very special type of bond. It also shows that not every homeless person is a drug addict or alcoholic who is going to waste the money they are given to buy materials to feed his or her addictions. There are many homeless people who have simply come on tough times and cannot find work, or cannot make enough money to afford rent with the job that they currently have! (Murr, Storify)The Strategic Action Plan on Homelessness is a plan designed by the government to help those who are homeless come to a place in their life where they are no longer homeless. The Strategic Action Plan on Homelessness consists of four major goals. Those are to prevent episodes of homelessness, to help the eligible homeless to receive health and social services, to help state and community organizations with their efforts in fighting homeless, and to develop a process for tracking homeless and ultimately to end homelessness. This plan provides many opportunities for the homeless to receive help from the government and many organizations without simply handing them a wad of cash and letting them spend it however they want. Many homeless people do not have good financial skills, so it is important to provide them with housing or food or clothing rather than simply giving them money. This plan is a bit controversial because many people believe that the government should not use taxpayer money to give handouts to the less fortunate. There are many hardworking Americans who want to see their tax money used wisely. However, this is not the main topic that I would like to discuss. I simply want to use this plan to show that the government does want to make the homeless population extinct by providing them with housing and some basic needs. Also, there are many ways to help the homeless other than simply giving them money. (Leavitt)Homelessness is a problem that occurs in many forms. For example, someone who is a drug addict without a job may become homeless because he does not have enough money to support his habits and provide for his basic needs. On the other hand, homelessness can strike someone who is married has two kids and then lost their job and may have acquired debt from bad financial decisions early in their life. These are the two extremes of each side, but the fact is many people are homeless who do not want to be, and are embarrassed to ask for help because of the shame that comes with this tragic situation. 60 Minutes did a segment entitled Hard Times Generation: Families Living in Cars which followed the Metzger family. This familys mother passed away recently, and the dad has been unable to find a job since the economy collapsed several years ago. Now, they live out of a van that they bought on craigslist. This is not the typical picture that comes to mind when someone thinks of the word homeless, but it is a really good picture of a large group of people who are homeless. Before I began my research on homelessness, I had the view that most homeless people were just moochers who were lazy or people who had a drug or alcohol problem. However, I did not realize that there was a relatively large group of homeless people who simply came upon tough times in their life. These people may not be sleeping in a cardboard box every night, but these are the people that I believe should be helped. These are the homeless people who are hardworking and really want their circumstances to change. It can often be tough to decide whether or not to give a homeless person money because you do not want them to waste it on useless junk. However, it is important to remember that there are people like the Metzger family who really need help, but are embarrassed to ask. (Hard Times Generation: Families Living in Cars.)One of the most impactful moments of my research was when I had a conversation with a man named Tefsa. Tefsa is a 42-year-old man from Dallas, who moved to Charlotte two years ago to be with his family when tough times hit. He lost his job as a taxi driver in Dallas due to circumstances that he could not control. Later, he got put into jail for a short time because of possession of marijuana. Shortly after, he came to Charlotte to be with his family, but his family moved to Atlanta, and he did not want to leave Charlotte. He wanted to stay in Charlotte, and actually decided to attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte! He was a student there in the fall semester of 2014. He has acquired nearly 60 credit hours and is only a year or two away from graduating. However, he failed out of most of his classes last semester and has been really discouraged since then. He was also unable to pay some school bills because they were larger than he initially anticipated. He is currently living in a homeless shelter in Charlotte just off of North Tryon. My point in saying all of this is that often times homelessness strikes people unexpectedly. This is a great example of someone who had a job and was attending the same college that I currently attend and then got discouraged and is now homeless. This really taught me to sympathize with homeless people in a way that I never have before. Through my conversation with Tefsa, I realized that the main thing he needed was not money. What he really needed was a friend to encourage him and stick by him. He was a lonely man who did not have much help in college. I think that if we actually want to fix the problem of homelessness, then we have to do more than just give a man a dollar.In conclusion, the moral question of whether or not we should give a homeless man is a very difficult question to answer. My answer to that question is ultimately no, not because I think it is wrong to give them money, but rather the answer to that question is much deeper than that. Homeless people obviously need money, but what is more important than that is real people who really care and want to make a difference.