Human Sad
This cartoon was a result of a great sadness I was feeling at the time I drew this. I was being surrounded by stories involving a lack of empathy. It disturbed me, recently, hearing about school kids throwing rocks at baby birds at a local elementary school… still more stories of 5 year-olds torturing animals.
Kids learn empathy when they are very young. It is something parents must teach their children. When the parents fail, their children fail, and they will fail their society.
To further, I ran across stories on the internet (complete with photographs) of the atrocities of recent and ongoing wars…. and the human wretchedness startled and saddened me.
And then, of course, there are so many homeless people… forgotten by society, especially vets who served their country… and now are joining the ranks of the forgotten. Sigh.
I don’t mean to bring you down here… It is just what inspired this cartoon.
I tend to react like the woman in the second panel to most of the people that I see holding these types of signs. Not because I lack empathy, but because there are so many professional pan handler’s in my area that it makes it difficult to tell who is honestly in need and who is actually a scammer who would rather beg for money than try to make an honest living.
There is a difference, the professional pan handlers have a higher tax free income than many people who actually work for a living. There are a lot of people in my area who live in better homes than me, eat better food than me, and buy more expensive stuff than me, but stand on street corners holding cardboard signs that claim that they are homeless and need help.
I have actually witnessed some of these professionals actually change shifts with other professionals. Meaning I have seen a car pull up a short distance away from a supposedly homeless person, a man in grubby dirty clothes get out, walk over to the first supposedly homeless person and trade places.
They try to hide the fact that they are driving newer cars, by parking a ways off and walking to where their partner is “working” before trading shifts. I have been about to give money to some of these supposedly homeless people then noticed that they have slipped up and forgot to take off their expensive watch.
Some of these people have even been caught bragging in bars about the fact that they clear tax free six figure incomes simply from begging. This is what has turned my normally compassionate and emphatic nature around and made me stop looking or meeting their eyes when I see these folks.
If I can tell that the person is honestly homeless, I will give what I can, but these other scam artists make it incredibly difficult to tell who is and who is not truly in need.
poor rudy. he doesn’t have enough problems so people think they have to make it worse? his nonspeaking and the way he covers up suggest that he may be a burn victim. is that so?
this strip and your comments make me think of a snippet from a poem i read earlier today.
Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power –
Who knows thee well, must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
— byron, from epitaph to a dog.
Granny P,
This isn’t new, see the short story by Doyle: “The Man with the Twisted Lip.”
Here’s something to cheer you up. In Dallas Texas, of all people, the entire community is banding together to help children coming into America without their parents. People are donating time, food, cloths, anything they can spare, so these kids feel safe and cared for. There’s a lot of pain in this world, but if you look for it, you can find the pockets of good, too.
Gramy… I KNOW what you speak of. OldTown Salinas has a homeless problem. I have an upstairs window view of folks walking around downtown and I often see the trail of homeless folks walking up and down Main or simply sitting on the flower beds. I have been scammed, myself. OldTown also has a drug problem and giving money to someone can also mean feeding their addiction. So instead, I give to the charities that help those in need in the area. This way, I’m helping with blankets, food, or lodging.
anatman… you are a good surmiser. Rudy has a history that hasn’t been revealed. I will say that he’s had prominent cartoons on Vet’s Day and Memorial Day which should tell you something.
Beetles… I was made aware of this story having seen your post. Judy filled me in… and it is a story as old as… well, Arthur Conan Doyle. I think I saw evidence of this while I was in France… blatant evidence.
Nicole… Welcome to Comments! And I will continue to look for pocket of good (well said!)… I think that if we listen to the media too much, we forget that there is good in the world. Thanks for the sharing.
That is a more than touching piece. Thanks, Brig.
I think what’s just as bad is how much people are trained to tear into each other. I have a lot of memories growing up of people being needlessly hostile and abrasive over absolutely nothing; it just made them feel empowered to be on the offense against someone who didn’t even realize there was a “fight”.
You can kind of see that in today’s cartoon; what does the guy get out of tossing that insult? Did it raise his “worth” by a couple of extra points? Does he feel smarter or stronger because he’s in a better position than a homeless guy? However trivial it was, he still decided to slam someone who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) fight back, and that’s the mindset of nearly every A-hole out there.
Great, now I’m depressed. Save me some coffee, Brig!
Dada… oh, dear… I didn’t mean to bring you down… but I agree with your sentiment there. What bothers me more even, is that kids see this sort of human activity and mimic it. We learn to be mean to one another instead of learning to be compassionate. Okay, now I need a coffee. How soon do you think you can get here? I’ll buy you a joe.
Lee…. thank you. It makes me tear up still… as it did when I drew it. Sometimes we need to be reminded that we’re human.
Wasn’t it in Seattle where the cops threw the book at a married couple who were hosting free meals in the city park– because city hall was angry that the hungry they were feeding weren’t going to the “proper” channels?
Between the risks of being robbed, raped, ripped off or arrested, people’s lack of charity on street corners is unsurprising.
let’s play a game.
Let’s pretend the other two people have a story.
Suppose the “get a job” guy is a college graduate who bought the sucker-bait called a college education. He’s got a master’s degree in engineering under his belt, a hundred grand loan on his back, two part time minimum wage jobs he busts his ass at, and his only luxury is a cell phone he uses to keep track of his desperate hunt for a full time job. He’s eaten nothing but ramen for three days and he’s wearing his last clean clothes, and this guy is the fifth panhandler he’s tripped over on this walk alone.
The lady? Nothing wrong with her. She’s wealthy, well dressed and well off. Which is why the last panhandler with a whimsical sign she approached pulled a knife on her. She’s donated tens of thousands of dollars to charity and gives her own time at the local youth center, but she’s learned the hard way not to go up to ragged strangers on the street.
It seems, sometimes at least, that we have a broken culture – that people that would have gotten help when I was a child are instead put out on the streets. (James Earl Carter was the first president that I ever voted for.)
Increasingly, this is a ‘Me First!’ culture – and, sadly, that pertains just as much to many of the homeless as it does to those that refuse to look at the poor.
I… miss the welfare state of the seventies – and many European cultures have made it part of the national standard, the Dole in Great Britain as an example.
The population keeps rising, but the number of people needed to keep the wheels turning is dropping, leading to a surplus population.
There is a problem, but I see no easy solution.
The Auld Grump
There is a song I like that has a phrase that sums this up for how I think people should be.
“I know not your sorrow but I know mine, so say you’ll stay and dance with me tonight”.
It’s basically saying that we all have pain to name, and even though we can’t know each other’s pain we can still share in each other’s compassion. At least that’s what it says to me.
It can be a sad cruel world out there. Just do the best you can out there.
Have you ever wanted to give a cartoon a hug? I want to right now.
Even if I don’t have money to give someone, or don’t think it will help them, when they ask I always look them in the eyes and say, “Sorry, I don’t have anything, but I hope you have a good day.”
They always seem to appreciate the respect.
RH Junior… Hello!
Grump/Jack/Gramy….It is a strange world where helping others has become a crime. I always wonder about how the world might look if large corporations (many of whom funnel money away to secret offshore accounts) would do their part more, and help feed the poor. With great wealth comes great responsibilities. Our corporations (I’m thinking of Coke, Kellogg’s etc.) could do more.
jumpingjoy…. I take that as an extreme compliment, Joy….
I, too, kindly reply and wish them a nice day. Some take it, and some don’t and walk away and grunt as if to say “thanks for nuthin’.” I will keep smiling in their general direction anyhow.
RH Junior: I understand the frustration, especially if the first person you described is you are someone you know or love. I have been in that very situation! I understand your feelings on the matter. But telling someone, anyone to, “Get a job, Bum” is not, in my estimation, the actions of someone who has compassion or empathy. And for either of the two characters, looking the other way is something we all do at one time or another. I don’t feel this is a good way to deal with the issue.
As for Rudy, the homeless fella who is a regular in this strip. He has a story, too. I will relay some of it. He has served his country only to return to a broken VA system which would rather give him the run-around than help/treat him. Rudy has experienced war, disfigurement and despair… he is unemployable, and he relies on help from shelters and food banks because the military benefits aren’t enough to live on. He wants very much to communicate to people the wisdom he has, but can only do so via cardboard messages. Otherwise, people walk passed him, trying to avoid contact. He is invisible… but not to Randie.
The issue of homelessness is a controversial one… it certainly is in my neighborhood where the homeless are very much present and panhandlers are on virtually every street corner. I have very mixed feelings on this myself as there are professional panhandlers who choose to mooch off the good intentions of others. I have learned not to give to them directly, but to shelters and charitable organizations who help those who WANT help.
I think the big thing to keep in mind is, no matter how rough your own circumstances are, you should still treat other people as human beings, without needlessly insulting them. I have been in desperate poverty several times in my life, and no matter what, I still taught my daughter by example and explicitly to treat others with love.
I very rarely give money to someone begging, but my husband, daughter, and I try to always have some kind of food with us in the car to give to those who ask for help. That, along with a quick word, or just human eye contact, helps keep everyone human.