Austin has a very large transiant population. On pretty much every street corner in Austin there is someone begging for money. While I'm stopped at red lights I have nothing better to do than to read there signs
"Disabled Vietam Vet"
"Homeless, anything helps"
"Single Mother Trying to Surive"
"Help support Austin's Fire Department"
"LBJ High School Cheerleading, please donate!"
Hold, it... WTF?! Did I read those last two correct??? Don't I pay taxes for the freakin Fire Department?! Now I'm not going into what I think of transients and their pan handling, I can almost see that they have a vaild reason for bothering me while i'm trying to will the red light green, but whats up with these other groups looking for handouts? Hasn't anyone heard of a freakin car wash?
When I was in high school and we needed a fund raiser, we would sell crappy cookies or wash nasty cars, but now-a-days it appears that all you need to do is stand on the corner and wait for a hand out. Well theres a good set of values we're instilling in our kids. If you really need something, don't bother to work for it, if you stand on the street corner someone will give you money and take care all of your problems.
What the hell is happening that people can't work a little bit for some extra cash. They have to beg for it instead? I don't know about anyone else, but I would be ashamed to be a fireman, a very proud occupation to have, and to have to stand on the corner hat in hand, asking for people to stick some money in a freakin boot. How demeaning is that? I work for a living, but I still need to stand on the street corner begging. I guess I should see if I can get the teachers organized to be out on the street corners begging for money so we can actually have some material for our students...
Whee!