Hawaii's Homeless

[Miulang]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Ya know, the hopleless don't NEED to work, when they can earn MORE than minimum wage just panhandling!

They're not the hopeless ones. The ones who panhandle for a living and make no attempt to get a job are leeches on society. Some of them aren't even homeless; they're just lazy bums who know that people always feel sorry for people holding up signs saying they're homeless and penniless and that they can make as much (or more) money standing at the bottom of a freeway exit ramp or street corner than they can at a minimum-wage job. Whenever I feel charitable, I always tell these people I don't have any money to give them, but if they want some food to eat, I'll gladly buy them a meal.

When I worked for Oxfam-America in Boston raising money for projects overseas, we worked hard not to put pictures of starving babies in our campaign literature. It would have been easy to raise passels of money that way (we are almost as charitable as the Brits), but we felt it was demeaning to the people we were trying to help to perpetuate the myth that these people had no pride and were depressed all the time. Most of our brochures had pictures of smiling mothers and children from the Sahel in West Africa, Bangladesh or other places in the developing world. Even in the poorest, most economically depressed parts of the world, people still can smile, people still can be proud.

Miulang

[shaveice]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

hope i'm not going off topic; have only read the last few posts. i'd just like to recommend a dvd available at diamond head video entitled "it was a wonderful life". amazon.com intro reads, "The 1992 documentary It Was a Wonderful Life won several awards for its depiction of homeless women--the "hidden homeless" who don't sit on the streets and beg for change, but who live in motels and cars, often with children, while they desperately try to set their lives right. Several of the movie's subjects were left helpless from a bad divorce; one woman, a former singer, was abandoned by her affluent husband while pregnant with his sixth child. He now avoids paying child support, trusting in an over-loaded bureaucracy with limited power to enforce the law. It Was a Wonderful Life isn't the most artfully made documentary, but after listening to the revealing stories of these women--all struggling but determined to survive--you'll find yourself sizing up your own life, wondering if a brief illness or a lost job could steal your own life away. Narrated by Jodie Foster with music by Melissa Etheridge. --Bret Fetzer"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...808946-4636169

well worth watching. highly recommended. it will, i believe, broaden your perspective on the subject.

[hoku]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

I agree that most of the homeless people choose to be homeless because 99 percent of all homeless get family that is and was willing to take them in IF THEY GIVE UP THE DRUGS and because they can not kick they own habit they choose to live on the beach (hell why not free water at the bathroom) no electricity bills and best of all free food stamps so life is good for them they eat like kings and queens, the only one I feel sorry for is the kids that have to suffer because they parents choose to live this way.

oh and by the way I am from Waianae and I hate when I see these so called homeless people in WAIANAE store or TAMURA'S shopping with food stamps but get on 24mm hawaiian gold bracelet on each arm come on now how are we suppose to feel sorry that. I no tink sooooooooo.

[Pedro]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Me I hate it when I hear people grumbling about money problems and their using their EBT cards buying up all the fresh produce and little ol me can only afford not even half of what they buy on a regular paycheck to paycheck job. Poor me I wish I was rich Back to my Cup O Noodles.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

...you don't give money beCAUSE he needs it. You are buying insurance in case YOU end up in his position.

I give because on the day it happens to me at least God will know that at some point in my life I did show compassion to another human being. Call it insurance if you like, I call it being compassionate.


But you don't want to do something to spare yourself the humility of being homeless?

I do a lot to spare myself of being homeless. The fact that I am a homeowner with no mortage tied to it is proof that I am doing something about it. I used to be one paycheck from being homeless as most of us typically are but won't do anything about.

The key phrase is, "used to be". But now that I have put myself many paychecks away from homelessness I don't forget those who are so I give to them as a reminder that it could be me one day. It's hard enough for me to ask a favor from somebody but if it's for my family I'll do whatever it takes to put food on the table for them. Hopefully there are still compassionate people out there who can feel the way I do so the act of begging isn't so demoralizing...I try to be one of those people.

I do believe in bachi...what goes around, comes around.

[1stwahine]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Craig, applause to you! You are a special man to have the compassion and human kindness to those who are less fortunate. If everybody thought that there would be less hate in the world. Bravo!

Lynn
a former homeless mother of three!
and a mom of three soldiers to boot!

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

I grew up in Waialae Kahala in the 60's and 70's surrounded by high maka maka pilau buggahs who only thought of themselves and their investments and screw the homeless. Their actions for the homeless was to kick them out of Kahala Beach!

I grew up as an adult in the 80's as a typical yuppie thinking the world is my silver platter so better serve me up a bit of high life and it did.

All that changed one day when I saw this old Japanese lady sitting in front of my working place. I was coming back from a local diner picking up my phone order for lunch when I saw her sitting on the curb. I saw her before but I thought she was just waiting for a ride but there she was in the same clothes in the same spot.

I walked up to her and asked her if she was okay. Her eyes told the whole story before she even uttered a single word. She was homeless and didn't know what to do about it and she was very tired and hungry.

Apparently she was happily married with no children living in a modest home in town. She never worked and her husband paid all the bills and took care of all the credit cards. He died quite suddenly and she used whatever was in their savings account to pay for the funeral assuming the life insurance would reimburse her once the claim went thru.

It never did because he never had any. He also never had any mortgage insurance so she lost their home of many years. She had no credit history because she never worked and all the cards were under his name. Their cars were reposessed, so were the furnishings and then the home itself.

Suddenly this small Japanese woman who could have been anyone's grandmother living in nice home was kicked out onto the streets with no way of determining what to do because her husband did everything for them, and now he's gone.

She had no money, no personal belongings, no credit history, nothing. She was homeless.

I was a young 25-year old and after seeing her plight I realized she needed help right away. I took her into our lunch room and gave her my lunch and bought her a soda while she told me about her life and her dispair. I knew what happened to her could happen to a lot of us and I needed to think about shoring up my assets to prevent me from getting to that point. I ended up giving her everything I had in my wallet (about $80 bucks) and put her on a cab to my local church where the pastor there could direct her to social services thru the church or the state.

It was all I could do as a young guy with no savings of my own. But her life was the seed that changed my self-centered ways and from that day on I developed a game plan to live a more humble life with compassion to others and also to make sure I had a long term plan to ensure a strong and successful future.

Imagine that, a homeless person taught me the values of humanity. Her suffering didn't go in vain because it helped me and my family weather the financial strains that hit us in years to come. her story also helped me help others, and by helping them it kept me sincere and focused on the necessities in life not the wants.

[1stwahine]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Craig, I never expected such a touching and teary eyed story. I am crying because I was exactly like that lady...not Japanese, not old. I too lost everything. It was when I was down that I rose to become who I am today! Thank you for sharing.

Lynn

Gosh, it's already 6:24 pm. I haven't started my blog yet. I better get going! Talk stories laters!

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

My motto in life is taken from that old Beatles song: Obla Dee Obla Da...Life goes on Brah! By the way that phrase is also on my Reader's Digest Organ Donor Card cuz I felt it was befitting.

Thru faith and perserverance we all can be touched by the grace of God, if only we are willing, be of service to your fellow man and your life will be blessed. These are the truths that guide my life and that I teach to my children.

[shaveice]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

hey craig, thanks for sharing a moving story.

by the way, i'd like to plug that movie/dvd again cuz what you described is so very much like the stories of the 7 women in "it was a wonderful life". there's nothing like really talking to someone who's struggling with the homeless issue but this documentary will have a similar effect on those who watch it. it will broaden your perspective on women who find themselves without a home and hopefully make you a more compassionate person.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...808946-4636169

by the way craig, any info on what happened to that old woman?

[cezanne]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

My wife is like that. She'll buy an extra meal at the drive through for someone she saw using a bus stop (not intending to catch the bus). She's a very kind-hearted person who's thankful for what we have.

[Pedro]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

I grew up in Waialae Kahala in the 60's and 70's surrounded by high maka maka pilau buggahs who only thought of themselves and their investments and screw the homeless. Their actions for the homeless was to kick them out of Kahala Beach!

I grew up as an adult in the 80's as a typical yuppie thinking the world is my silver platter so better serve me up a bit of high life and it did.

All that changed one day when I saw this old Japanese lady sitting in front of my working place. I was coming back from a local diner picking up my phone order for lunch when I saw her sitting on the curb. I saw her before but I thought she was just waiting for a ride but there she was in the same clothes in the same spot.

I walked up to her and asked her if she was okay. Her eyes told the whole story before she even uttered a single word. She was homeless and didn't know what to do about it and she was very tired and hungry.

Apparently she was happily married with no children living in a modest home in town. She never worked and her husband paid all the bills and took care of all the credit cards. He died quite suddenly and she used whatever was in their savings account to pay for the funeral assuming the life insurance would reimburse her once the claim went thru.

It never did because he never had any. He also never had any mortgage insurance so she lost their home of many years. She had no credit history because she never worked and all the cards were under his name. Their cars were reposessed, so were the furnishings and then the home itself.

Suddenly this small Japanese woman who could have been anyone's grandmother living in nice home was kicked out onto the streets with no way of determining what to do because her husband did everything for them, and now he's gone.

She had no money, no personal belongings, no credit history, nothing. She was homeless.

I was a young 25-year old and after seeing her plight I realized she needed help right away. I took her into our lunch room and gave her my lunch and bought her a soda while she told me about her life and her dispair. I knew what happened to her could happen to a lot of us and I needed to think about shoring up my assets to prevent me from getting to that point. I ended up giving her everything I had in my wallet (about $80 bucks) and put her on a cab to my local church where the pastor there could direct her to social services thru the church or the state.

It was all I could do as a young guy with no savings of my own. But her life was the seed that changed my self-centered ways and from that day on I developed a game plan to live a more humble life with compassion to others and also to make sure I had a long term plan to ensure a strong and successful future.

Imagine that, a homeless person taught me the values of humanity. Her suffering didn't go in vain because it helped me and my family weather the financial strains that hit us in years to come. her story also helped me help others, and by helping them it kept me sincere and focused on the necessities in life not the wants.

Wow that sure was a touching story. At least you did the right thing at the time, and hey it's taught you a valuable lesson too, and that's to be thankful for what you have even if it isn't much.

[Miulang]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Yeah, and I believe Mahatma Ghandi was the one who said something like, "even if you have only a little, give what you don't need away, because if you don't, it will get taken away from you anyway."

Miulang

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

Miulang, that's pretty ironic because I believe that if you give away something you never needed it's like giving away your undesirables. To me if you give something it should be something of value...something you'd want to keep if it were for yourself. It's like how we fish in these islands. If your catch was bountiful, you give away your biggest catch to your neighbor, not the manini stuff you'd have used for bait.

But I still do appreciate the coffee grinder as a matter of fact I used it this morning for my first cup.

[Tiger Beer]

Re: Hawaii's Homeless

When it comes to the treatment of homeless people, Honolulu has been named one of the top ten "meanest cities" and the state of Hawaii named the third "meanest state," according to the National Coalition for the Homeless... This year, Honolulu ranked ninth (of 179 communities surveyed)... Honolulu was ranked 19th in 2003 (of 140 surveyed), and one of the 12 "meanest cities" (of 80 surveyed) in 2002.

If thats true.. thats good.

One of the things I HATED about living in San Francisco is the people are so tolerant of things like that. Then more and more homeless people hear about it, and they seem to come from far far far away to take advantage of the system there. I think they were giving some ridicious amount of cash each month to those who applied through the right channels of their homelessness in San Francisco. The homeless problem was really out of control.

I often went to the library in SF.. and so many homeless there.. many would just have casual conversations comparing what cities were better or worse to be homeless in and such.. like a community. (Of course other homeless are downright mentally ill - but some seem to choose it as a lifestyle choice).

For quite awhile now, I've been living in Korea off and on. A homeless problem doesn't seem to really exist here.. well, homelessness exists.. but the Korean people have no interest/toleration in giving $ to beggars... so no one is begging. They'll do something creative like open a small restaurant on the street or sell stuff or re-make keys.. or do something simple.

The mainland obsession with this 'must give them as much free stuff as possible and services' mindset.. seems to encourage the thinking of homelessness as a lifestyle among a very small (yet highly visible) part of the population.

For those who really don't want to be homeless, you'd think they'd have enough family to help them out if a real tough time happened that could force it on someone.