Post in Reactions to Panhandling (was " Petty Crime")

Jun 28 10:40 UTC

I have to admit that I have been blessed and never had to panhandle. Somehow,
through it all I have been able to make ends meet.

My general reaction in my mind to panhandlers is why don't you get "real" work?
Except for very rare cases, there are no excuses. America is the land of
opportunity. I worked with a man who came to America on a crowded boat not
knowing a soul or a word of English, lied about his age to get into a school,
and 5 years later was working at a good paying job for 3M Company.  I have seen
a woman who lost a leg and went on to run the Twin Cities Marathon. There are
thousands of stories of folks who have worked hard to over come many
adversities. Right now we have seen a black man upset one the most
sophisticated  political machine of modern times. 4-5 years ago he was an
unknown councilman. Now, he has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and is
the odds on favorite of becoming the President of the United States.

As I said there are no excuses!

Dean Sheldon,  St. A. Park
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Rick Mons
  To: St. Paul Issues Forum
  Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 1:48 AM
  Subject: [SPIF] Reactions to Panhandling (was " Petty Crime")

  On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 12:18 PM, Bob McLean <grmpllc@comcast.net> wrote:

  > A quick follow up: Rick, I can understand how you read my "garbage"
  >