True story. The other night I ordered a small pizza. When I showed up to pick it up, they had screwed up and it wasn't made. The guy at the pizza place was nice, so he made me 2 small pizzas because I had to wait.
I didn't actually want 2 pizzas. On my walk home, I passed a homeless guy that has been in the neighborhood for nearly two years. And he's a really homeless guy. The kind of guy that doesn't have a sign, doesn't ask for anything, and is out there when its 20 degrees in february under a bunch of blankets. He also happens to be nice, I haven't had a conversation with him but he'll say good morning sometimes.
So when I passed by, I gave him the free pizza. He thanked me for it. I felt good about it.
Is it solving the problem that he is homeless? Absolutely not. Neither of thought 1 pizza would do that. But you know what, it was a friday night, someone did something nice for me, I decided to pass it along.
Should that be illegal? How can that be illegal? Imagine if a cop saw me do that and he gave me a ticket. He doesn't know that I can tell the difference between this guy that is on the corner every night for 2 years, and the other guy that is totally faking it and shows up on Saturdays only (when the weather is nice) and loudly asks for change, and I doubt is actually suffering from any of the things listed on the sign.
And how are the police going to tell the difference between me giving a pizza to a homeless guy I don't know, and me giving the pizza to a friend of mine that I texted "hey I got a free pizza, meet at the corner and I'll give it to you". The answer to that is plain old discrimination based on appearance, but no one will say that.
You are 100% right that random acts of kindness will not solve homelessness, but I simply can not see how making this illegal is workable or helpful. It just seems like a great way or nice people to have run-ins with police, and a law that basically can only work with discriminatory enforcement.
I didn't actually want 2 pizzas. On my walk home, I passed a homeless guy that has been in the neighborhood for nearly two years. And he's a really homeless guy. The kind of guy that doesn't have a sign, doesn't ask for anything, and is out there when its 20 degrees in february under a bunch of blankets. He also happens to be nice, I haven't had a conversation with him but he'll say good morning sometimes.
So when I passed by, I gave him the free pizza. He thanked me for it. I felt good about it.
Is it solving the problem that he is homeless? Absolutely not. Neither of thought 1 pizza would do that. But you know what, it was a friday night, someone did something nice for me, I decided to pass it along.
Should that be illegal? How can that be illegal? Imagine if a cop saw me do that and he gave me a ticket. He doesn't know that I can tell the difference between this guy that is on the corner every night for 2 years, and the other guy that is totally faking it and shows up on Saturdays only (when the weather is nice) and loudly asks for change, and I doubt is actually suffering from any of the things listed on the sign.
And how are the police going to tell the difference between me giving a pizza to a homeless guy I don't know, and me giving the pizza to a friend of mine that I texted "hey I got a free pizza, meet at the corner and I'll give it to you". The answer to that is plain old discrimination based on appearance, but no one will say that.
You are 100% right that random acts of kindness will not solve homelessness, but I simply can not see how making this illegal is workable or helpful. It just seems like a great way or nice people to have run-ins with police, and a law that basically can only work with discriminatory enforcement.