and hilarity does not ensue…
every tuesday morning, my small group of men meet at mcdonald’s, for breakfast and study.
this morning, it was 6 degrees. SIX degrees outside. i walk in, and at the counter is a somewhat obviously homeless man, fresh from the cold, complete with frost on his clothing, coat, and bag. he’s attempting to barter with the manager over a cup of coffee. i step in and offer to buy him the coffee, and a he can split my breakfast with me, he said he would like the hashbrowns.
i told him that myself and a group of guys from my church met there this morning, and that he should stay warm, and we’d pray for him.
i take it that set him off.
he sat one table over from us, and mumbled obscenities, namely ones regarding chopping our “expletive deleted” heads off, as well as announcing that he’d hope to high heaven that we’d fall under his curse. he sang songs, mumbled things in gibberish, pounded his fist to the table, and generally reminded me of a heavily bearded gollum. however, if a customer or employee, other than my party, walked by, he’d stop, say hi, and wait kindly for them to pass thru before carrying on right where he left off.
so then the time came for us to leave, we all stood up together, i told the man to take care, and said God bless, and side-stepped out of the room. mostly because i thought sure that he’d follow right along.
he didn’t.
so what began as a “whatever you do for the least of these” moment, ended in a somewhat disturbing feeling of “when is this guy going to leap across the table and attempt to kill us all?”
all in all, not a moment i’d like to relive any time soon
*** UPDATE ***
one of my friends went back to buy the guy a little more food.
and as he walked in, he noticed the “homeless fella” purchasing an entire breakfast platter of food with a wad of cash he pulled from his wallet, right in front of my friend rod.
so much for charity.
Bloody do-gooder.
Not to dilute your heightened sense of fearing for your life, but I’d take any threat of having your head chopped off with a grain of salt, especially when vowed by a crazed and dirty homeless man.
Just a tuppence.
Interesting though occurs though… would you die for charity?
as i think about it, i’m not sure. i never really felt “scared” or “in danger” just thought that eventually something was going to bubble up and cause an outburst of some form.
but would i die for charity? i’d like to say i’d die in ministry, but i guess it’d be the moment.
i’m not sure i can answer that question… anyone else?
***UPDATE***
one of my friends went back to buy the guy a little more food.
and as he walked in, he noticed the “homeless fella” purchasing an entire breakfast platter of food with a wad of cash he pulled from his wallet, right in front of my friend rod.
maybe the only worthy charities are widows and children?
well, you did say that he was only trying to get a cup of coffee out of mcdonalds, it’s you who brought up the offer to buy food, right?
if i was homeless, yet had money, and someone offered to buy me food, i’d take them up on the offer. i’d want to save that money as long as i could for when someone wouldn’t be around to offer me food.
shouldn’t charity and ministry be basically the same thing? what’s the difference?
actually no. he asked for hashbrowns. during the conversation regarding me purchasing the coffee.
actually you know what. nevermind. i’ll be over here.
charity is ministry is life … at least i think it should be.
there’s also such a thing as gratitude and humility when you know you’ve been served. some people are homeless not because they’re down on their luck, but because they’re so ‘broken’ in regards to their self-image and their social aptitude that there is truly no hope for them until they change themselves.
at least that’s my opinion, i’d like to hear it argued differently.
and from the way you wrote the story, you offered to buy the coffee, AND to split your breakfast with him. so he said he wanted the hashbrowns.
i guess i am trying to figure out what this guy did wrong (i realize he was freaking you out while you were sitting there with your friends, but in regards to eating and such)?
i agree that humility and gratitude should be involved when served in someway. i don’t think some people have been taught to respond with humility or gratitude though, which can make them tougher to serve. especially when you get screwed in some way (taking money and buying stuff to get drunk off of when they said they needed food money). i guess it depends on when you give if you have requirements or if you give without any requirements.
which kind of leads my train of thought to another issue… do either of you (since you have kids) think that an effective form of punishment for a child would involve sending them to bed without supper, or refusing to let them eat at a meal due to bad behavior?
i actually had an idea that this line of conversation was coming.
behavior is 100% learned.
any reinforcement of negative behavior can foster continuance of said behavior.
if my son(ike, the only one old enough for discipline) is to pitch a fit at the dinner table, and not want to eat. he is not excused until he eats his food. if he chooses to leave the table on his own, he’s served a “time out” occasionally consisting of nose in the corner until he can settle down and come back to the table. if he chooses not to. the food on his plate is the only thing he’s offered to eat until he eats it.
in the same way, if it’s his mouth that gets him into trouble, it’s his mouth that gets him out. that’s right people. he gets to lick the soap.
when i was a child, my mother had a wooden spoon. spankings with this spoon were the ultimate punishment, and the behavior causing the punishment would cease at the mere mentioning of it.
with isaac, if he’s asked if he needs soap in his mouth, he stops doing what he’s doing 90% of the time. same goes for the nose corner routine.
what does this have to do with our unfortunate soul this morning? the behavior that led him to no longer be a functioning part of society as we know it, is not my fault.
it is very possibly the lack of healthcare for the mentally ill in our state. (recent changes drastically diminished available care)
as far as the problem with people being homeless, jobless, penniless, it’s a 2 way street. you have a home because you work. you work because you need a home, you do well at that job because you need to get paid.
there are jobs everywhere for everyone. the problem is, and i’ve heard this from a family member of mine is “i’d rather be on welfare than work a job cleaning toilets, or flipping burgers.”
so if that actually means anything. i dunno. just my $3.36(incidentally that’s how much breakfast cost today)
So state healthcare would solve the problem? That would make this individual an acceptable member of society? Doubtful. I think you were closer to the real solution when you were giving your diatribe on punishment. I’d be willing to bet that most of all homeless “rather be on welfare than flipping burgers” people were either abandoned by their parents (physically or mentally) or were never taught discipline in a realistic form when they were younger. Far as I can tell, there’s no time to fix this like the present.
Two Words: Forced Labor.
I’m not talking about throwing them in a gulag somewhere, punishment via hard work can be humane. But instead of catering to the lowest common denominator of our society, why don’t we give them a solution: work and be saved.
I don’t know why this topic of misused charity has been brought up so much lately. Seems I’ve had a discussion or thought about it on and off for the past few weeks. That’s why I’ve taken to carrying sandwiches with me wherever I go. You want some spare change for food? Try a sandwich, buck-o.
In regards to the “No Supper” matter: I don’t think I’d ever withold a meal, but I don’t have any problems witholding desserts or snacks at non-meal times. I can think of a few times where I’ve *wanted* to say “ok, you’re done with supper, and nothing to eat until morning,” but that’s usually when they’ve not been eating supper in the first place. I’ve never actually administered that punishment, mostly because it’s not good judgement to use food as a vehicle for discipline.
i understand what you said about only letting issac eat what he is offered, and not going out of your way to make this or that or something else, but would he or has he, or could he someday, be refused the opportunity to eat anything because of behavior? am i explaining myself right?
ok so i got off track a bit. however, i think this gentleman quite possibly had actual mental issues. and better care would help. my wife’s uncle is stuck in a similar situation, and is sufferring the consequences, by not being properly medicated etc. and becoming dangerous to himself.
now on the topic of forced labor, i feel that a work-fare not welfare system would be beneficial.
i also feel that yes. if my child was disobedient beyond the punishments we are accustomed togiving, a missed meal would not be out of line. by saying that i mean it’s less harmful for a child to go hungry for a few hours, than it is to reinforce or even reward bad behavior.
did i answer anything?
This is me displaying my ignorance, but I’m almost certain that a good 75% of mental illnesses would dry up if the “patients” were treated like responsible adults instead of sick children. Are you have voices telling you to hurt people? Are you hallucinating again?
Put down the bottle, stop watching TV, start doing something productive for once. Most of our dysfunction comes from mismanagement of our own lives. Many of our distorted perspectives of reality stem from the fact that we don’t want to see.
I’d just like to know where mark got his sandwiches he carries around with him. I haven’t seen lunch meat in this house for a year.
Peanut. Butter.
i figured it was just one sandwich that mark has carried around with him for years that he hasn’t found a homeless person to give to yet.
im watching hero. it is good. the main charactor has no name. but i think he has a home.
can i have some samichis?