Remember the 1935 version of Scrooge, where he picks up a stick and rushed out of his shop to deal with beggars in the street outside his business?
I wish I could do that with the beggars outside my business on Spring Garden Rd. They stand around all day, disturbing the flow of legitimate shoppers, they are often disheveled and dirty, and they can be quite persistent.
I know, they are poor and needy .. I get it, I really do.
But don’t I have a right to retail goods? I pay ernough to the government, that is certain, for this right. And most of them don’t do a thing to enhance the experience .. just standing there begging, never bothering to play an instrument, or even a tin whistle, or juggling balls, or standing on a box offering political speeches such as in Hyde Park .. can you see where I am going with this?
If you offer something entertaining, people will tend to throw their pocket change at you. And you will be something more than a bum when they do it, yes?
Of course many of the beggars are not interested in anything but drugs, etc. They have not yet been beaten to the pavement by a certain well-dressed shop-keeper wielding a mop like a battle axe.—Buddha
This article appears in Jan 16-22, 2014.
The poor and the homeless do not exist for your entertaining you privileged fuck. Do they not have a right to live, be seen, and have their struggles be fucking noticed and understood? You can’t make poverty disappear just because “wahwah they look bad”. Try doing something positive about it instead of focusing on your own pathetic problems.
Are their no prisons? Are there no workhouses? Full points to Buddha for knowing that there was a 1935 version of a Christmas Carol.
Still, I prefer the scene whare Alistair Sim tells the carol-singing urchins – “Be off with you”. Think I’ll use that the nest time some derelict gargles at me “Hay Buddy you got some spare change so I can buy some swill?”
Mos Definitely.
Okay folks send all the bums to tribute’s place as he or she seems to love them.
“Ew those people have less money than myself attributing to a variety of potential reasons including illness (mental, physical), race, sexuality, gender, etc. they should be killed/used as slaves because they inconvenience me”
– middle classed white men
Oh, Buddha, you really are a joke.
For myself I think I would better be able to understand the teachings of the Buddha to the full extend if I take on the same way of life as the Buddha had when he went on his quest to enlightenment. He left everything in his palace behind and became a homeless wanderer without much possesions, and went from place to place to find answers.
He reads that it is important to not be attached to any possesion, that possesions are not permanent and therefore will lead to suffering.
You’ve got a lot to learn about Buddhism, Buddha.
FYI OP: The presence of beggars never stops me from purchasing when I’m on SGR. Gouge prices and snooty shop owners are the biggest deterrent. Where would you have beggars go? To sidestreets where there is low density pedestrian traffic?
If it’s any consolation, this is just a temporary inconvenience. Ever since those ungrateful bastards, the electorate, saw through Dexters ‘Bankrupt the Province’ game and heaved him, and his Orange Menace, he’s finding it difficult making ends meet on his $130,000 pension until Irving or NSP give him a Directorship and will continue to inconvenience you and your patrons.
I miss the SGR Cop, he moved the effluent along.
For the 25 years I worked downtown, the bums on Barrington were there with their rattling TH cups, a battered knapsack, occasionally a dog and the ever-present cigarette between two fingers. For those same 25 years, I watched these same useless fucks run to Scotia Square, either to the NSLC or the lotto ticket booth. You can see a lot of shit just sitting in the SS food court for an hour 5 days a week over a quarter of a century. So, OP, I am totally on your side here. Especially if the bum has better footwear than I do.
Your argument – “…don’t I have a right to retail goods?” – is moot. You have that right. you do that. End of argument.
Trying to cover the fact you don’t like the “beggars” by wrapping it in a bad argument means no sympathy for you.
I ignore them.
Ob, there are municipal standards for panhandlers. If they don’t follow them, you would have a legitimate excuse to call the cops on them. Please inquire about them. Ussually it is stuff like they are not to step towards the person that is walking by, etc. Must be a certain distance away from a common walk and or doorway, etc.
“middle classed white men” – Right, Louis – time to round up the usual suspects.
Considering that it’s white middle class taxpayers who contribute the lions share of the upkeep for every waster, bum, scumbag, parasite and skyver fertilizing our pavements – I’d say we’ve paid for the right to grouse a little.
Don’t you think? Or, don’t you bother?
No, what I think is that maybe you need to do a little research into poverty, racism, classism, and a variety of other topics, as well as work on your compassion.
hello????? folks, someone is pretending to be buddha. no love lost betwixt me and buddha but we are heading down stupid alley again……
People who try to frame arguments in marxist terms can shampoo my crotch.
With no-tear baby shampoo. There, how’s that for compassion >: )
Marxist shampoo is shared by the collective…ewwwwww.
Pretty much how we expected this one to run.
Anyway… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtEmcruWTso
I hate you Ronald Reagan!
I agree with T.T.Fonebone for the most part. Most do this as their job because they do not want a job where they have to be there at a certain time, waiting for a certain day, or week, answering to a fistful or two of bosses, etc. They want to work on their own terms and be free to travel if they want. They are usually here in the summer, to scratch up your vehicle with their chains and spikes squeegeeing your windshield, without being asked, and then want a tip. Then those you see year in year out, same people, same corner. Some are passive, some can be aggressive. It is an unfortunate reality. They either cannot work because of medical reasons, can work but don’t want to because they are lazy, or are very good at scamming the system.
Yours truly.
The other day, Molly mentioned someone may be posing as Buddha. I think I am inclined to agree–unless Buddha is bipolar. Last she and I riffed, she spoke of befriending “les pauvres” and drinking with the alcoholics. Is there a Buddha impersonator out there?
Hey, Molly…I jumped the gun and posted before reading the comments.
Nukka… Well said!
“For myself I think I would better be able to understand the teachings of the Buddha to the full extend if I take on the same way of life as the Buddha had when he went on his quest to enlightenment. He left everything in his palace behind and became a homeless wanderer without much possesions, and went from place to place to find answers.” – Nukka
You could be right. Would you be right for blaming me for not trying that? It’s pretty low to attack someone based on their religion, especially since the bitch didn’t even mention Buddhism.
It’s the sort of thing trolls do, isn’t it?
Hey Meaty,
You’re quite wrong about me having a bias against beggars. The Buddha was a beggar monk, you know. Also, many elderly people are intimidated by beggars .. I’d like to see Spring Garden Road safer for the seniors shopping there, they have a right to shop safely without worrying about such things, yes?
The difference between the average Dickensian bum and the average 2014 Halifax bum is that there are no workhouses. There are, instead, ample social programs geared to help those in need IF THEY WANT IT. We pay thousands every year in taxes to make sure these programs are in place (including free health care). The catch? You have to give up the unhealthy lifestyle that has put you in such a bad state to begin with.
I’m not saying they’re perfect. I’m saying they’re not Dickensian. Sorry but I defy anyone to show me ONE street bum in this city today who is not either an addict or hipster. I also defy anyone to show me one street bum who actually doesn’t have a place to sleep at night. Programs exist to help addicts who want help. Hipster bums can suck my cock.
Buddha, this is something i heard the other day that i think is going to stick.
Often, it’s not about trying to help. It’s about trying not to do harm.
HUGE difference.
You shouldn’t do harm to anyone if you can help it at all. But unless you know specifically what help is needed, you are not qualified to offer help. And help can actually be harm in disguise. Such as, but not limited to, enabling.
The other weekend I thought a bum was insult tactics to agressively extract change from me, it wasn’t until I walked away that I realized he was telling me he was short of cash, not slagging me off for being short (I am sensitive about my under-tall nature!). I felt a little like a stupid arse :s
What the heck is a Hipster Bum, are they not all same!
swordfish, haven’t you seen them? These hippie-wannabe hipster street kids that set up camp across the streets of halifax in the summer. You must have seen them. Doctor’s kids. Lawyer’s kids. Kids who think it’s cool to be a bum but can only hack it in the summer.
I hate those guys. For a very specific reason. They’re nice enough and friendly enough but they take up the most valuable street real-estate in the summer so they can be seen, pushing out the genuinely crazy bums who smell like pee and wear their underwear on their heads. Ain’t nobody going to give you a job if you wear your underwear on your head man..
Ahhhh yes …. I live in the boonies but work in the centre of HFX so quittin time I run lol, but I think I know wht you mean.
I just ask them for change before they ask me.
1953 version you mean? With Alistair Sim?
Besides, the fact that they are beggars means they have no other choice.
You know what? I never see pan handlers in Downtown Sydney. I know there is a soup kitchen and food bank that opens once a month, and always reading about the poverty here… but I never see anybody on the street asking for money. Not even playing an instrument with their instrument case open. Where are they?
Crispy – Nope, she’s referring to the 1935 version, titled “Scrooge” with Seymour Hicks (sounds like a good name for a C.F.A., dunnit), There was also a version done in 1938, by MGM.
SOHI – of course you don’t see them. They’re all out in Fort MacMurray. The only bums left in CB are oxy-jockeys who’ve lost their thumbs to gangrene and can’t hitch a ride to the Promised Land.
Sydney, the city where jobs go to die, thanks to the unions.