I have lived in and around many large cities with a dense low income - no income population. It really hardens you. When my friends would come in from the suburbs, they couldn't believe how callous I could be to the "homeless" approaching us.
Let me clarify who the "homeless" I'm referring to are. They are out in the city from 9am to 4pm, they get holidays and weekends off, they wear clothes nicer than mine, and they are never on the street when it's below 50 or raining. And they approach me with stories about their lost keys, their brutal divorce, their kid (who is in a stroller) threw their wallet into the river. I may have believed them too, but I had coworkers who would warn me ahead of time of this tragic story about to unfold. Every single time!
I have given money and food to the real homeless. The ones that don't know where they are, the ones that are sleeping on a sewage vent at 10pm when I get off work. But even those ones I have to be weary of.
In one instance I was with my friend and someone who was truly homeless approaches us outside a McDonalds and asked for money to buy food. My friend offered to buy him something and the guy said no thanks, he wanted money instead. One person came by with a cheeseburger for him, he threw it in the trash and walked away.
Another time I gave a dollar to a woman outside a CVS, she walked in after me went straight to the alcohol cooler and bought a Natural Light, then peed herself while she was chugging it in front of me in line.
Why am I bringing this up? Today three men approached me as I was walking to the bus stop. They were representing the homeless and selling something. I don't like to be alone around people I don't know and I was running late for work, so I automatically said no thanks. They called me a rich bitch and said one day I'd get what was coming to me. I was wearing jeans, ripped up boots, and a jacket covered in yogurt.
And I filed all my taxes last night and realized I had paid out the ass for federal, state, and local taxes for the programs that are designed to educate and provide welfare to the less fortunate.
Kiss my "rich" bitch ass, I've got to get to work.