The Homeless Man

What should we take out of this interview?

Mr. Cole had a us watch a video (http://youtu.be/AusCA28efa0) today that contained an interview of a homeless person. This man was obviously distraught, he had been searching for a very long time to find a job with little success. He could never leave any way for a company to contact him because he had no phone number. He was forced to rely solely on the generosity of others to survive. This man was humiliated by his way of life. He disliked the disrespect that comes with begging and the label of being called a bum. He began to tear up when he talked about his inability to escape his situation

We can interpret this any way we like, but the fact is that this man is misunderstood. So many people walk by him accusing him of being lazy when in reality he is desperately searching for a job. He even says that he would take any kind of work offered to him, the only problem is that he never gets a job offer. A common stereotype would have us believe that men like him take all the money that they are given and go out and waste it on alcohol and drugs. In this case, we would be very wrong because this man uses his money for food and shelter, not much else.

Furthermore, something that I have come to realize is that there is no excuse for not helping people like that. Even if we worry that our charity will be poorly spent, there are ways around that. Giving out fast food and hotel gift cards are a great way to ensure that the money goes to a productive cause. Donating to the local shelters achieves the same end. But our assumptions should never be an excuse to let someone starve.