Giving you my 3¢, and you didn't have to beg for it!

So, news in the Pensacola area lately has brought "panhandling" to the forefront of local news (related news article here).  While I personally can't afford to provide income to every beggar in the greater Pensacola area, I don't think they deserve to be thrown off the street corners either, as long as they aren't being unsafe or harassing other people.  But all the press and print over this issue has gotten me thinking.....

Why are we really surprised at or surprised by the number of people taking to the streets these days to beg for money (some very successfully)?  Why are homeless people despised for begging, while parents all over town (and probably across the country) are actually encouraging their children to do essentially the same thing?  This is a problem that society has created, and many parents are perpetuating.

I can scarcely remember the last time I ventured to the grocery store without being pestered by some 6-year-old in a baseball uniform, or having to duck around a 5-foot-tall 13-year-old, or experiencing ear-splitting screaming from cheerleaders of all ages.....all standing around outside of the stores begging passers-by for money!  They're out there most every weekend, all year long.  All that changes are the uniforms that change with the seasons.....no, no, not the seasons of fall and spring and summer and winter.....I'm talking about the other seasons: football, baseball, basketball, soccer, marching band, etc.  I'm fine with the petite people selling lemonade or cookies or candy or hot dogs, or having bake sales, or washing cars.  Those kids are actually being taught a valuable lesson: that you should have to work for what you want.  My beef is with the kids who stand around with a can and just expect people to drop in money!  Heck, sometimes these kids aren't even STANDING to beg anymore; now, they're sitting under umbrella-shaded chairs!  Occasionally, I see the PARENTS doing more of the "work" (begging) than the kids who will supposedly be benefiting from the donations!



Why have people seemingly decided that it's ok to teach our children how to beg for money, and how to expect "someone else" to pay for what they want?  Aside from the fact that the kids probably get a hot bath and 3 meals each and every day, are they really so different from the bedraggled men and women sitting/standing on the street corners hoping for the dirty change hiding in the ash trays of the cars whizzing by?

I hear people argue that all the homeless people are going to do is "use it to buy drugs (or alcohol)."  Well, if you were sleeping under an overpass, not knowing if you'd be raped or robbed in your sleep, I imagine you'd want to be drunk or high too.  Yeah, yeah, I get it.....plenty of homeless, jobless beggars are healthy enough that they could get a job.  I'm not defending them, not really.  But, in all honesty, the town's begging children could certainly do SOMETHING to earn their uniform money, too!  They could mow lawns, sell snacks or drinks, or wash cars.  I just refuse to see sitting-in-a-chair-in-front-of-Walmart-listening-to-your-iPod-and-holding-a-can as working for anything!  And the parents who are taking their children to participate in these beg-a-thons should be ashamed of the lessons they and the team coaches are teaching the kids!  And, if any of my friends have kids who participate in these "can shakes," have you thought about the message you are sending?  Really?

A "long time ago" kid used to play football or baseball or basketball at the home of whichever neighborhood kid had the biggest back yard, or in an empty lot someplace (like in the movie The Sandlot).  They didn't need coaches, or uniforms.  They would play for the fun of it.  Every so often, they'd play the team of kids from the next neighborhood over.  The prize at stake?  Bragging rights.

Not so these days.

These days, kids have cell phones in elementary school and stay in touch with friends online before they even reach their early teens.  Kids don't know the neighbor kids.  So, to get them to interact IRL (in real life) with other children, people now have to put together organized sports with uniforms and practice schedules and playoffs.  And, at the end of the season, every kid gets a trophy....from the outstandingly talented to the outstandingly awful, because they all "tried" and "worked hard."  Why can't we be honest with kids, and tell them that not everyone can be good at everything?  It's just a fact of life, and it's healthy for children to learn this at a young enough age that it doesn't cause them problems when they get older.

Countless teams of researchers are working around the world to try and discover the cause of the growing numbers of children with behavioral and psychological problems.  Is it really that big a mystery?  We teach children to sit around and beg for money to spend on organized and over-scheduled sports with trophies handed out for participation rather than talent.

Well, where do you expect these children to be in 40 years?  I wouldn't be surprised to find a few of them standing (or sitting) bedraggled on the side of a road, holding a can, and waiting for someone to pour in some pocket change.  By the way, who's on this years committee to hand out participation trophies to the homeless beggars in Pensacola?