I spent the first part of my stay in Atlanta with my aunt. It is a different Atlanta. I want to live in that Atlanta. Hotel/Downtown Atlanta, I do not want to live in. When I was younger the whole ‘energy’ thing didn’t make sense to me. Probably because I didn’t have the life experience to read my surroundings. I was much more inward, it was all about me. These days the people and surroundings affect me much more than I would like sometimes. With that said I don’t like living in downtown Atlanta. I’ve been trying to figure out why. I’ve come to the conclusion it’s because of a man named Joe. He calls himself Homeless Joe. Anytime I step out of my hotel it’s just a matter of minutes before Joe appears and rushes toward me. Joe has a distinguished face. You can tell he was a good athlete. He’s articulate and charming. He knows asking for a handshake is crossing the personal space boundary so he raises his fist for a bump. I can do a bump. But no hand shake. He goes into his routine ” I’m Homeless Joe, just call ne Homeless Joe. This is my city, welcome to my city. Where you from? Are you leaving tomorrow? You know what the greatest nation is? DONATION.” How about a couple of bucks?
I can’t understand why Joe bothers me so much. A couple of bucks a day won’t kill me. A few more seconds listening to Joe won’t kill me. He’s harmless enough. I guess it’s what I see. I see what Joe could have been. I want to ask him why. Makes me uncomfortable I want to talk to him. Makes me uncomfortable I ignore my instincts. Makes me question my prejudices and assumptions. I could talk to Joe, but I don’t. I just keep walking. I use to like walking until I met Joe. I don’t walk much here. The less I walk the more I can avoid Joe. Joe makes me worried , not for my safety. But for the blinders I where in my life. I think there is a lesson here. I’m still figuring it out.
I put the blinders on for the Homeless Joes too. Even if you give the Homeless Joes money, it feels like coercion. It never feels good. On the other hand, when I saw a homeless guy with a cart full of recyclables, minding his own business, collecting cans from the trash and not bothering anyone, I thought, “That guy is actually contributing to society.” I flagged the guy down and gave him some bills. That felt good.
All you westsiders are such wusses… come to downtown and volunteer at one of the shelters and do something about this prejudice you speak of.
As a ATLien, I deal with daily.
this is more a problem of the ultra-aggressive panhandlers in Atlanta than it is a homeless problem.
What you need to think of is you dont know what happened in thier lifes or the hardships that others have come acrosses. Some handle it better then others and some cant cope. Some of the the homeless have mental problems to where they are not able to do like others can which cause them to be out on the street. People always judge others because of thier looks, where they live or the homeless and you never know how person is untill they take the time to find out why it is the way it is for them, No boby chooses to be homeless
I think Joe would bother me for the same reason….wondering why he is the way he is
I get so sick of hearing about the poor misunderstood panhandllers. I work my ass off 6-7 days a week just to have a place to live and eat. I am flat broke without a coin in my pocket most of the time. Even if I did do you actually believe I would feel guilty not giving it away. I say get off your whiny ass and have a backbone and be independent. If you cant work, apply for SSI and foodstamps. If you can work then go where the jobs are. I personally know of 15 -20 construction companies that only care #1 you show up for work #2 do your job. Alll that bullshit “Im a convicted felon” ” I dont have any skills” Thats all it is BULLSHIT. Some people just want to sit on there sorry ass and think the world owes them something. Open your eyes, the world dont owe you SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just because there is ssi doesnt mean everyone gets it. They are cutting back on ssi funding because they are running out of money all over the place. They are cutting alot of things back. There are people out there that do need it and cant get it. So what I work 12 hour days in da city, 7 days a week, have a house, have a car, Kids well care for the point is if you dont want to give them money dont keep it moving. I do. Theres no reason to sit on it and think bad about others because of thier life style period.
see i live in Australia, the people who you call homeless people, to us they are our friends our family or what could of been!
I would very much like to share our homeless Joe story… My husband and I have a homeless outreach feeding program, that we run out of our home in our city. We go to a park and feed the homeless. We have also made it a personal goal to do something for the homeless wherever we go. Two years ago were in an Atlanta suburb for a few days visiting my husband’s family. We told them about our plans to visit the Atlanta homeless. I thought they were going to pass out! “Are you two crazy?”, “You will be murdered” are the things we heard. Well, we went….I would very much like to share our homeless Joe story to encourage you (hoping you have not already left) to stay and take the time to
talk to homeless Joe.
My husband and I met Homeless Joe when we went to midtown Atlanta to do some sight seeing as we looked for parking across the historic Fox Theater. He actually had one of those sticky name tags on him that said “Homeless Joe” like he was part of some sort of street welcoming committee. He came up to us and introduced himself and he just started talking. He was a very nice man. He told us that he wasn’t really homeless, that he’s “house-less.” So I asked him why he was “house” less. Joe makes his home on the steps of the Fox Theater. He said that his wife died of breast cancer two years ago and he became very depressed. The medication he took for the depression caused his kidneys to shut down, so now he relies in dialysis three days a week.
Homeless Joe shared his knowledge of Atlanta with us. He calls himself an “ambassador”. He recommended some neat restaurants. Richard and I ate at a very cute restaurant called Papis.
Homeless Joe also recommended another restaurant, he said they made the best southern food in Atlanta. We asked him what was his favorite and he told us- Chicken fried steak, black eyed peas and collared greens. Richard and I decided to buy Joe dinner. we brought it back to him, and spent two hours with him. What impressed Richard and I the most about him was how much Joe loves God. How blessed he feels and how grateful he is to God. We thank God for blessing us with Homeless Joe. Richard and I will
forever have Joe in our hearts and prayers.
I think on some level we all have faced a Joe or two in our lives. Growing up in NYC, traveling on the trains underground of the vast and rich city of NY, I would see Joe everywhere! its sad though because in our society, the homeless are meant to be ignored, as if they are invisible and to some extent i guess they are!
Its not your irresponsibility to feed them, give them money just because you have it, is it? I just think we all need to do what we can to counteract the poverty issues we all live with. Just some of us choose to face them, and others have permanent blinders =(
I have no problem with Joe. I say hi & tell him I cant spare any cash but Ill happily go with him to a food outlet & buy him a meal or cup of coffee, whichever he likes. Sometimes Joe understands he wont get change from me & leaves me be in the future, but many times Joe is very happy to get something in his tummy.
Sure, Joe can be bothersome, but is that Joes fault? To say one works hard 6 days a week whilst Joe just begs still only highlights one has more to spare than Joe. If he had a choice, he probably wouldnt beg or live on the streets. No human would. Having lived in a hostel myself for 2 years where most homeless, street workers & drug abusers ended up, I can safely say they are no different to you & I. I wouldnt trust them with my belongings or money, due to the nature of their situations, but when you get to know their personal stories one must have a hard heart not to understand.
A sandwich & a cup of coffee means more than a few dollar notes. Try it next time.
I drive for Joe Patten and go to The Fox almost weekly. I always talk to Homeless Joe when he is out- even if it’s just a second or two. He is very articulate and most of all, observant! The first time I talked to him he said “You drive for Mr. Patten- don’t you? You usually drive a white Nissan too, right?” and offered several other bits of information. Obviously this guy pays attention- key when selling yourself as an “Information Specialist.”
Yesterday when I was there I had a few minutes to talk while waiting for Mr. Patten to come down. It turns out Homeless Joe has managed to start a business house sitting for the local realty companies.
With the copper theft going on nationwide, they find it necessary (and relatively inexpensive) to hire house sitters for these commercial properties. He has put himself in a position to be the liaison between the realtors and a huge group of people with nothing but time on their hands. They are paid with food and a place to stay and in turn must keep the properties clean and make sure nothing gets stolen under their watch. I can’t say how effective this is, but I also know some GT college students who have the same arrangements with commercial realtors. A friend of mine lived in the big PTC building that is right beside the MARTA tracks down in College Park.
So I guess my point here is that some of these folks will go beyond “getting” a job and go so far as to “make” a job, even if it starts as being the local ambassador of kindness and good will. Maybe if some of the rest of us could spare a few precious minutes of our time instead of rushing to catch the ball game or drink a beer with our buddies we could appreciate what these folks go through and benefit from what they might offer.
Of course- I don’t give a damn dime to the ones who stumble up smelling like booze. I’m generous but not stupid.