On the Question of Begging
Two beggars I've encountered in the past few days, and all the begging
that I do to further the work of Bethesda Project, have me thinking about
the public discussion going on about the convention center and what to
do about the threat to its success posed by the homeless.
Recently a man came to my door one night after dinner asking for money
for a cause. He was courteous, and he had a button on his jacket advertising
his cause. He had a clipboard with forms on it and a tin can with a logo
on it for cash donations: all the signs of a kind of legitimacy that I
notice or even look for before parting with a couple dollars. I send out
newsletters, and raffle tickets and letters asking for support of the good
cause and work of Bethesda Project. Not very subtle, my begging, but easy
enough to ignore if one is not already inclined to give.
More unsettling to us, to me for sure, is the beggar I walked by last
night at 18th and Walnut St. He didn't shake his can at me or ask me for
money as I'm sure he did for most passersby. He told me, "Don't even talk
to me, don't even say hello. You take all those big checks and I can't
even get a shower." What I first heard before the sense of the words was
the anger and the disquieting menace in that tone that had me keep on my
way. It was half a block later, playing the words back in my mind that
I realized that the man recognized me, not as a stranger, but as someone
from Bethesda. The 'shower reference must be that he wasn't able to get
into My Brother's House for a shower recently and the 'big checks', the
money we receive to use in the care of the poor. This man whose face I
did not recognize was refusing me the opportunity to respond to his
begging because I had earlier failed to do so when he came to the door
of My Brother's House. He refused to beg from me. I had my chance and had
blown it.
I have heard that in the Moslem world begging is considered a calling,
a profession. Even in some cities beggars are licensed. There is ceremony
surrounding the beg: the giver must request the beggar's permission to
offer a coin, pleasantries need to be exchanged, health inquired about,
weather conditions, how the children are doing. After the donation
has been made the beggar must give a proper blessing to the donor, and
the donor must thank the beggar for having provided the opportunity to
be generous. People have 'their' beggar, and beggars have 'their' donors.
In Europe until the Franciscan charter, it had been unlawful to beg unless
you were needy. It was not permissible to beg for the needs of others.
Only the poor had the right to beg. Not our way. We are more comfortable
with intermediaries rather than mediating ceremony. I, who am in no great
need, get to address you regarding the need of others.
Since I am given this privilege I want to say this:
There is no way the man on 18th St. wants to be a beggar. No way. No
way that he wants to have to ask at some mission to take a shower. No way
that he wants to wear somebody's old clothes, stand in line for an hour
on a corner to get a sandwich, or sneak past the manager at McDonald's
so that he can go to the bathroom. He can't find a way out. His sitting
on that corner through the long and cold nights, or going through the humiliation
of being turned down by me for a shower, or doing the endless waiting that
he has to do to get a meal, has got to be proof enough for us that there
isn't any way out for him, and no way out for many other men and women
in this city. Nobody wants it this way if it could be some other way.
There is not one person I've met in twenty years that has not desperately
wanted something other than the cold and loneliness of these streets. Not
one. Never.
I don't know if these poor and powerless people and their public tragedy
will hurt the good possibilities this new convention center offers: jobs,
new businesses, interest and pride in the city. If there is some good reason
to think that their presence will do us harm we can ask them to go elsewhere.
They will. We asked them to leave 30th St. Station in 1984, and the barrio
they constructed in the Broad-Spruce subway station in 1989, the Federal
Building portico in 1990, 1234 Market St Underground in different years.
They will go. They mean us no harm. We could ask their leave at least with
some shame that the little left to them is being asked of them.
The man who wouldn't beg from me was angry at me and not just me alone.
He has good cause. I don't know his individual story. But I know that it
is hard to find a one-room apartment in Philadelphia for less than $350.00/month;
and he doesn't need to buy this newspaper to know that the rates of unemployment
are not improving much in this economic recovery. And that since 1984 the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ruled no more welfare for the likes of him
except for ninety days per year, some relief that might have helped him
get through these hard times without resorting to begging.
I would like, even more than the Mayor, almost as much as the
man at 18th St., to get all the beggars off the streets of Philadelphia.
I wish we knew how.
Joe Ferry
Bethesda Project
