Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
where did I lose you?
panhandle - beg in the street
electronic panhandling - beg on the internet
is it the best name?
No, probably not... but there are many many websites that host people's pleas for financial assistance for whatever reason and they encourage you to share the link to that plea on your social media platforms of choice to "pass the plate" so to speak to a wider audience. cast a wide enough net and you're bound to catch more fish.
it doesn't work as intended in the same way giving a homeless guy a dollar on the street every day doesn't work.
because of the fundamental flaws in human nature.
You can't appreciate that which you haven't earned.
It takes no physical effort to ask people for the money that they worked hard to earn, therefore the recipient
can not appreciate it.
And I mean it in the definition of the word "appreciate" which is "understand and fully recognize the worth of" this gift of money,
-not- I repeat -not- "appreciate" in the sense of accepting it with gratitude.
And this is an important distinction since most people assume I am speaking of the latter which is not the case.
I mean appreciate in the true sense of the word. Let's say I dig ditches for a living and make $10 bucks an hour and you ask me for a hundred bucks and I give it to you because I feel sorry for you or your cause or whatever.
There is no way for you to
appreciate the ten hours of hard rock ditch digging in a sweltering sun in a hundred percent humidity. It's not possible to convey that in any meaningful way.
Not because the you in this story is a bad person, he or she is just a human trapped within the confines of their own experiences.
So they blow it. The money has no real value "sweat equity" to them since it took no work to acquire. So they waste it frivolously.
Again, not intentionally. this is all happening on a subconscious level. The bum on the corner begs until he has enough to satisfy his immediate needs, once those needs are met he satisfies those needs and is back on the street the next day begging again.
We think we are being kind and helping this poor person. But in reality all we are doing is extending his misery.
Again, not intentionally.
We want to help, it seems obvious how to help, we want to feel good about ourselves so we put a buck in his cup.
But it never actually helps, it has the opposite effect and makes it worse.
Ok. since all the bum in this story has to do is ask for money and he gets it, that creates the expectation that tomorrow will be the same and if you have ever had the misfortune of being homeless you will understand the vicious cycle that creates. And if you haven't then you may never appreciate it. Because you can't experiance things through other people's experiences
The amount of the donation has no bearing. It could be a quarter, it could be a million dollars, it doesn't matter. That money is blown and then the recipient ends up worse than they started.
Because the next day it rains and nobody fills his cup and he gets angry with the world and his situation only deteriorates.
The bum doesn't understand why people are generous one day and not the next, they are angry because they put their faith in a system based on the kindness of strangers and when the strangers don't or can;t come through they get upset.
Again, not intentionally.
It's a study of human nature and the very root cause of poverty.
it's not personal. beggars aren't bad people. the people that give aren't bad people, the people that don't give aren't bad people
they are all just people, born with this flaw in our nature that we must work on to overcome.
which you can't do by putting a dollar in the cup.
You have to understand the systems that are in place working against all of us in our journey to eradicate poverty and achieve a more peaceful and verdant world
the end