Senior year, I took a class about poverty and homelessness. I learned a lot about trends, legislation, psychology, and theology/philosophy relating to this topic. I didn't just read about it in books, but I stayed in a homeless shelter in Louisville as well. Ever since this class, I've had a heightened awareness for the topic and even started to shift my research interest a bit, focusing on welfare issues.
So that being said, I tend to think about issues regarding poverty and homelessness often. This is the first time that I have been confronted with such visible homelessness so regularly. I am 100% aware that there is a homeless population in Murray, Danville, and Tuscaloosa, but it isn't as visible as in Berlin. There are beggars on street corners, street performers, and newspaper salespeople.
My focus today is on the newspaper salespeople. I have a lot of respect for the newspaper salespeople. First of all, they are not selling the Berliner Morgenpost, the Tagesspiegel, or any other widely circulated German newspaper. They write their own paper with themes specific to homelessness and poverty. The salespeople will board UBahn or SBahn trains and give a small sales pitch that usually includes their name, how long they have been homeless, and information about the paper. Then, they walk up and down the train looking for interested buyers. When the train arrives at its station, they will get off, switch trains, and continue on their way.
Well, Friday night on the way home from Inglorious Basterds, I decided to give money to a newspaper saleswoman. It was about 11:30 at night, and I had some extra change in my pocket. She boarded the train, gave her pitch, and walked my way. I handed her my 1.5o Euro, but when she handed me my newspaper, I didn't take it. She said something like, "Are you sure," and I said, "Yes, thank you." She said, "Thank you" and went on her way into the night with her backpack full of newspapers. It is quite possible that she didn't give the exchange a second thought, but I did. I then gave it a third, a fourth, a fifth, etc, etc.
I felt bad. I will tell you why, and you can agree with me or disagree with me. By selling newspapers, she was doing more than sitting on the street asking for donations. She was using her power and abilities to reestablish a functional position in society in which she offered a product or a service and received compensation for that. Just like I offer a service to the University of Alabama or you perform your daily jobs at work, so did she. But when I gave her the 1.50 Euro and refused the newspaper, I broke that relationship that she was trying to establish between us. I was essentially saying, "No, I refuse your service, and I am giving you a donation." And that isn't what she wanted.
I could be reading too much into this. I keep telling myself that my heart was in the right place. I gave her money because I respected and admired what she was doing. But I don't just give money to people who check me out at Wal-Mart. I don't just give money to store owners because I like that they're offering me a service. By just giving her money, I was treating her differently than I would a regular salesperson, when I feel the whole reason she sells newspapers is to be treated as a regularly functioning salesperson.
Like I said, she may have not given it a second thought. It might happen to her all the time. I probably see more people refuse newspapers than actually take them, but for me personally, that doesn't make it okay. I look at programs like these newspapers as a step out of poverty. It helps initiate lifestyle changes, and I feel like I'm undermining that process when I give a donation and refuse the service.
What have I learned from this experience? Take the newspaper.
Thoughts? Agree? Disagree?
See you all again on Monday. One more week! Who can believe it?
Deutsches Wort des Tages:
die Zeitung -- newspaper
No comments:
Post a Comment