OPINION & EDITORIAL
Madison vagrants need aid
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Also by Jack Garigliano:
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- Republicans overreact to UW e-mail (October 11, 2007)
- Music downloads still safe (September 28, 2007)
- College Dems do it dirty, focus on 'ass'inine issues (September 13, 2007)
- Tibetan flag flap should blow over (May 2, 2007)
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- Local media expedite petty politics (November 29, 2006)
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by Jack Garigliano
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Ah, the end of the election season. That most bittersweet time of year when the mysterious realm of politics fades away from the foreground of our everyday world and retreats to the confines of newspapers and television, from which the Few, the Brave and Those With Fast-Approaching Article Deadlines continue to ponder that strange entity. Yea, verily, for what nobler thing can the mind ponder than poli…
"Hey, man, how's it going?" a fellow North Lake Street pedestrian asked, interrupting my walking and reverie. I don't recall the rest of the conversation very well; in a nutshell, the man asked me for money (which I didn't have) to buy a sandwich (which he didn't have). When I told him how much money I had on me (none), he requested I buy a sandwich for him. I told him how many credit cards I had (none). He thanked me and continued on his way. I continued on mine.
Anyway, where was I… ah, yes, politics: The vehicle of government, the noblest of creatures, and that which all the cheap metaphors in the world could not hope to reveal the shining glory of.
At this point, something occurred to me. Maybe, just maybe, my head was floating too far up in the clouds for me to see an actual issue staring me right in the face, literally.
I'm referring to homelessness, not panhandling, though panhandlers no doubt constitute the majority of homeless people regularly encountered in Madison. Anyone who has dared venture outside his or her safe little home has no doubt come across at least one panhandler. These unfortunate persons are especially prevalent on State Street, and their strategies range from jingling a sparsely filled coin cup held at arm's length to confronting pedestrians with direct eye contact and a friendly greeting.
The subject of panhandling often stirs up various emotions, including disgust and nervous adherence to political correctness. The more severe critics of sidewalk begging often dismiss such persons as deadbeats, harassers and good-for-nothings.
The more politically inclined may be able to recite a list of every politician planning to run for office in several years or a political party's particular strategy. But no one knows — one may have suspicions based on cultural bias, but she or he doesn't actually know — where the people begging for money come from, how they got here, how hungry they are, where they plan to spend their donations, why they don't have jobs, or why they are willing to stand on a street corner and ask perfect strangers for something they know they can't rightfully expect to receive. Doesn't anyone feel the urge to ask them why they stand and beg?
The fact that panhandlers exist at all should serve as a reminder that there are people who live in poverty, are unemployed and are homeless. And no one lucky enough to attend a university who hasn't worked or interacted with the destitute can so flippantly attribute alcoholism or laziness to bad situations, just as he or she cannot treat the elections and the political process like some twisted baseball game.
It's very easy to forget the humdrum issues we face every day when the frenetic pace of the election comes into play. The mind can only care about so many things at once, and come election year, much of its attention is focused on everything the candidates are doing wrong and, in years like this, certain unnecessary amendments. A mere glance near the lamplights on a crowded street in Madison should remind us of the very people whose opportunities our government must aid in order to maintain its legitimacy.
Jack Garigliano (garigliano@wisc.edu) is a freshman majoring in English.
Anonymous (November 16, 2006 @ 6:59am):
A better title for this piece would be "Madison Vagrants Need to Get a Job." The Madison economy isn't that bad.
Anonymous (November 16, 2006 @ 1:31pm):
Get a job? That's racist, isn't it?
Anonymous (November 16, 2006 @ 3:46pm):
Jack, I admire your benevolence, but obviously you haven't had a vagrant spit at you and yell obscenities at you for your polite refusals to help them out. It's scary. You never know if they're going to attack you.
Like another poster wrote, the economy is in good shape. If these vagrants aren't working, it can only be because they aren't looking. You can't help someone by doing for them what they can do for themselves.
Anonymous (November 16, 2006 @ 4:50pm):
Mr. Garigliano, you can be sympathetic all you want, but the majority of the people in the downtown are are college students. We live hand to mouth. How is it fair that these bums, many of whom are older than the students they harass every day, deserve any sympathy? How is it that we should care about them? Why don't they just go to a large metropolitan area where thousands of people with six-figure incomes actually change to spare? Why persecute poor college students?
If you wish to be such a good samaritan, then I suggest you take one of them into your home. You can provide for his basic needs and feel good about it, even when he comes home drunk and beating you up for money, eating your food, inviting all his loser friends over and you eventually wind up out on the street yourself because a bunch of losers forced you out.
Anonymous (November 16, 2006 @ 6:45pm):
Have you seen the amount of help wanted signs there are? There are so many resources for the homeless to access potential employment.
Anonymous (November 16, 2006 @ 8:33pm):
I think bums smell like cabbage.
Anonymous (November 16, 2006 @ 8:40pm):
I sleep much better knowing that I am not homeless.
Anonymous (November 16, 2006 @ 9:12pm):
I'm pretty sure you're all missing the point.
Anonymous (November 17, 2006 @ 8:31pm):
Instead of money, give him a job application. They LOVE that.
