Who Gets The Dollar?

I used to give almost every homeless guy or gal I saw a dollar. Then it occurred to me one day that if I keep giving every homeless person I see a dollar, I will need to start asking everyone for a dollar myself.

Anchorage has a fairly large homeless community. Even during the winter months there are those out on the street corners ‘pan handling’ at the traffic lights or in front of the malls or stores around town. The weather does not seem to matter much as they wear clothing needed to keep them warm from frostbite. The bunny boots, insulated bibs, and the layered garments worn by most of the homeless would work well up on the arctic slope of Prudhoe Bay or Barrow.

I was involved with building a new Brother Francis Shelter several years ago and it turned out really nice. Hydronic heating in the floors and nice showers with great quality equipment and fixtures made the place a comfortable temporary home. I thought it was much better than it could have been built and the Beans Café (soup kitchen) next door received its kitchen upgrade after completion of the new shelter.

There is a guy on my way home that has a sign, "Will work for food. Need a job." I see him in the same place every day during my drive and he seems to be leaving his spot almost the same time every day from holding his sign during the morning and afternoon traffic periods.

Doesn't he already have a job? He’s out there everyday.

I don't want to sound cruel, but if you live in the community for more than a year, you start to become . . . what's the right word . . . Immune to the problem?

Cold hearted?

I'm not totally sure. But you find yourself ignoring them after awhile, even judging them by their antics, demeanor, or even by what is written on their signs.

We have “Homeless Bill” a red-headed guy who has worked the corner of Dimond Blvd. and Old Seward Highway for several years with his sign which was somewhat catchy at first, “Homeless Bill, Looking for a rich woman”. I’ve talked with him over the years and found out that he used to be a union plumber but his drinking got him into trouble and he was thrown out so he has pan handled ever since. He camps summer and winter just off the freeway exit ramp several blocks from the mall and other stores where he makes his rounds in the area. Bill has a woman around during the summer months and her sign used to be “looking for a rich man”. Both appear to be somewhat “richer” when around each other as they share the tips and food as they take turns working the intersection.

That's when I decided only people with truly good signs get money from me now. Not the “why lie I need a beer guys”. I mean the unique ones. The one’s who have created a good commercial for themselves.

On Tudor Road and Lake Otis there used to be a guy who had a sign that read, "Unemployed troll, lost my bridge."

That one's worth a dollar.

Late at night on one of my contemplative drives home from work, there in the doorway of an expensive bed store on the Seward Highway across the street from the BP tower, I saw a homeless man laying out cardboard and a soiled sleeping bag for the night. Just inches away behind the glass sat an opulent king sized bed covered in warm, fluffy blankets.

That moment has stuck with me for several weeks now. People will spend thousands of dollars for a bed, but turn up their noses at a homeless guy asking for a dollar.

I know that we are part of the problem. Maybe a better way is to say our indifference, is part of the problem.

By the Saturday Market during the summer months, there once was a native woman who had a little crafts stand on the street just outside the Market. Clearly you could tell she was ‘street people’ and she had a sign that read ‘will write your name on a grain of rice’.

Passing by her I overheard a man remark to this person who was walking with him, "She should write her name on a job application."

His point was that it was a useless talent. When would that ever come in handy? My brain immediately sprang into the possibilities . . . How about with room mates?

"Hey, you ate all my rice again!"
"It's not like your name was on it."
"Actually . . ."

I sure the man walking by wasn't buying it.

My point is at least she was doing something to get something. Thinking outside the box as it were maybe should be applauded.

I remember when we were in Mexico there were the silver painted guys. They hang out around the Town Square where tourists coming off the cruise ships are fat with change in their pockets. They stand still like statutes for hours at a time and occasionally make robot noises when they suddenly move. People will stand in front of them debating if it's a statue or not. Again, out in the crowd in an attempt to see the city, we came across one such silver painted gentleman. A crowd stood before the unblinking, unmoving man wondering out loud if he was real or not. At the base of his podium sat a bucket with change in it and a little sign for donations.

A man in the crowd looked down in the bucket then up at the ‘statute artist’ and said loudly, "Imagine how much money you could make if you moved for 8 hours a day."

Before I could intervene, a pigeon flew overhead and crapped on the silver man's shoulder. The crowd laughed. Still, he did not budge.

That's when the man opened his wallet and pulled out a crisp five dollar bill and threw it in

to the bucket. "If a bird can't tell the difference between him and a real statue, he's pretty good."

I think seeing another human being who has given up completely scares the hell out of us on some profound level. We would prefer to not contemplate such things in line at Starbucks or Wendy’s on our lunch hour. Then we go back to whatever corporate hell we’re in and feel our sanity slowly giving way so we can make our money.

In today’s economy maybe it makes us wonder if that could happen to us. We question a system that for better or worse, we all participate in.

What are other options or possibilities?

How did it happen to them? Will that lifestyle become ours in the future?

What does it take for someone to become a ghost in our society? I’m sure this is not just an Anchorage Alaska problem. I remember Atlanta had a large homeless community living under the viaducts before the Georgia Dome was built for the Falcons to play football. The city forced them to move their cardboard city away from the Dome so the tourists and people going to events would not see them or possibly have to deal with a pan handling problem.

The only solution I see that seems to work is this: paint the homeless silver.

Or make more creative signs.

Ice