The Politics of Panhandling....

There is no law in Bellingham prohibiting panhandling.... A variety of people stand on street corners asking for a handout. Some need the help. Some, well, let us say NOT SO MUCH! Today as I drove Clepson to our first riding lesson we passed a clean cut woman and her little boy begging for a handout. This lady occupies this particular street corner most days. I have seen her with her young boy and with a baby in a stroller and her husband. They have been panhandling for several months.

The lady on the street corner makes me ANGRY! She holds a sign that says her family lost all to a fire and needs money. In the US we have many programs to help people in crisis. A family of four can receive food stamps, welfare, counseling, job training and child care. They have access to free medical care (a medical card or medicare). Able bodied people can also do things the old fashioned way and GET A JOB. I often work over 40 hours a week. My dear husband Terry is up by 4:00 most mornings and rarely gets finished working until 10:00 in the evening. Terry works on weekends and on his vacations. We work hard to be able to afford to feed our family and have a home. We have luxuries like cable tv and cell phones. We have pets that need vet care that we work hard to afford. It makes me LIVID to see able bodied families asking for a handout on the street. WHAT ARE THEY TEACHING THEIR CHILDREN!

I can understand a mother not wanting to put their child in daycare. I quit a lucrative career as a lawyer to stay home and raise my children. I still managed to work. I packed my infant boy in a frontpack and taught riding lessons. I sat him in a swing while I rode training horses. I was not an absentee mother and I think every mom should be able to raise her own kids. BUT, if push came to shove I would have done what I needed to to take care of the needs of our children. We would have moved our family home to our parents house, we would have taken advantage of social services. I would have worked while they slept at night! I would NOT STAND WITH MY HAND OUT ASKING FOR CHARITY.

This hits so close to home when I am seeing this family through the eyes of Clepson. He sees a well dressed "Blanc" standing with a cardboard sign as her child plays with a new toy at her feet. She does not look like she has missed many meals. Her son looks well clean and well fed. Clepson asked "they are hungry?". I said "NO". He said "they ask for money?". I said "yes, they ask for money they do not need".

I tried to explain about the available social services. I tried to explain why a family would beg for money they do not need for survival. If this family could see real suffering for just one day.....