Help for the Homeless

Well, the title of this post is a little deceptive.   More about that later.   I'm sorry about the lack of posts in the last few days.   My computer's power supply died a few days ago and I was powerless until the new one could ship.   It just arrived a few hours ago and so I should be back until the next catastrophe.


Upon moving to Denver I noticed that the area has a very large homeless population.   I'm not sure what the source of this population is, but the population does seem to be larger than in other big cities I've lived in.   Remarkably though, it appears that Denver's homeless don't engage in the entertaining activities that other cities seem to have.   San Francisco is rampant with fake robots and people playing guitar.   As are NY and Boston.   Key West has the famous sunset pier with various acts, several of which appear to be performed by drifters.   Denver however, has very little of this.   There are plenty of people with clever signs and of course the direct approach of asking for change.   However, with such a large population I don't feel able to give everyone my pocket change.    Which by its very nature is sparse.   So I've stopped giving to everyone.

Now, I can't imagine that my blog has very many homeless readers.   If by the odd chance I do have a few, I'd like to offer a suggestion.   If you want money from someone, do something.   I realize that not everyone can play covers of popular 70s songs.   However, everyone has a skill.   Maybe you could tap dance, do movie impressions.   Even just walk up and tell a funny, non offensive joke.   Not only would it make me more likely to give you money.   It would also move you from the realm of beggar to that of someone that provides something for society.   Even if that something is just a moment of entertainment.

I'd just like to add that I'm not making light of the homeless issue or the substance abuse, mental health and lack of jobs that cause homelessness.    I just think many of these people could be a little more successful with a change of tactic.