The Making of a Panhandler

Most cities across the nation have them… we are so used to their presence we don’t usually give them a second thought.  Freeway off ramps tend to be the hottest piece of real estate for them, which is obviously the most lucrative.

I recently read an interesting article revealing what “pan handler’s” bring in a month.  It was actually quite alot which surprised me.  The article intrigued me and I wondered what it was that brought this individual to this place in life..  What kind of person becomes a beggar?  Surely one does not say “when I grow up I want to beg for a living”..  Isn’t it all about circumstances?  More times  than not you will see the same scruffy person standing at the same location month after month.  At what point does that unfortunate soul decide to move past this low period and better his life?

Are they all alcoholics or druggies?  Doubtful.  But are all of them really homeless vet’s, that believe in God?  Like most of their tattered signs indicate.  I doubt that too.

Why I find this subject fascinating I haven’t a clue.  Perhaps it is because as a child my own father would pack all 5 of us kids in the back of the car and drive… and drive…  He would finally stop at the first “vacancy” sign and plead with the proprietor for a good nights rest for himself and his poor, little children.  Did he have money to pay for the room?  I don’t know.. I did know that he was a good con, who could tell a very convincing hard luck story.  To us we were just happy to get out  of the car and snuggle beneath the stiff white sheets.  Even as a small child what my father did just didn’t feel right, I felt embarrassed.. I wonder why he did not..

Circumstances… that is what brings us to a place we wouldn’t be otherwise.   What goes on in the mind of a beggar?  Is it an embarrassment to them?  Confused and fearful of what tomorrow will bring?  It has to be an incredibly humbling experience I would think.  What about their dignity?  O.K.  maybe I am reading way too much into this…