Bums

Where are they coming from? Visalia has six (that I can think of) local bums that beg in the areas that I frequent. Today I saw a new woman bum so that makes seven. Their favorite spot perhaps is on the corner of Mineral King and Mooney. They are wise to the fact that most working people take that exit. They litter everywhere they squat, they leave their crates (what I call a bum's lazy boy) on the corner claiming their spot for the next day, and they move shopping carts from one end of the town to the other. I wonder why they choose places like Wal-Mart and McDonalds to beg? Don't people shop there because they don't have any money? Maybe the middle to lower class people can relate more to the bum's and therefore are better givers. Who knows.

My husband's uncle was shopping for new work boots one day near San Francisco. As he left the shop and headed home he noticed a bum standing at a corner with a $300 pair of work boots on. His uncle stopped and confronted the bum about it since he had tried on the boots just minutes before. The bum said that he wasn't homeless at all but was doing this as a "side-job" for extra cash. It turns out that the bum had wealthy parents who had recently cut his allowance short for some irresponsible behavior. In order to make up for this shortage, he donned some dirty clothes, rubbed some dirt in his hair and on his face, and proceded to make $40 an hour begging on the street. $40 an hour.

Granted, Visalia is not San Francisco but I can imagine our local bums make a decent living. They spread the news that they've found the new "Gold Towne" and more bums begin to trickle in for their share of the beggings. Each new bum has nicer clothing, hair cuts, new sunglasses, and shoes. Maybe giving money to beggars is not the answer to solving poverty and homelessness. It seems to me that we are just encouraging laziness. Maybe we should hold bum seminars about saving and investing. That way they could use their $40 an hour towards buying a nice set of clothes that they could interview in. Or they could invest in a little trailor to live in.

By the way: Is this a liberal or conservative view?