Saturday, October 20, 2007

Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus

"Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus" is a Latin phrase that's rattled around my noggin' for quite some time now. It' translates to "No God Can Stop a Hungry Man".
While this seemingly simple saying is packed with many truths only by taking a different perspective on the quote, and wondering if a hungry man should stop for god. Do we find that things are only as simple or complex as we choose them to be.

This leads me to my topic at hand, panhandling.

A practice as old as money itself is one of those things that deserves to be looked at through eyes that are not your own.
While on the surface, my work as the Litter Guy may come across as a hard-line stance against those that panhandle, by being someone who is doing something for his money as opposed to those who are presumed to be doing nothing.
I know this as fact by the response from some people that donate to my cause as well as some panhandlers themselves.

This thing about panhandling that seems to be missed by most of the populace is that it is one of the most mentally degrading jobs there is.
I know I know, hold on a sec, you're thinking it's a job? Please! That's the point of panhandlers, they don't have a job to go to.
Well, back to my point of perspective, give this one a whirl.
In a time of absolute intolerance of discrimination, i.e. sexism, racism, etc., It is however not entirely socially unacceptable to be a classist.
You have people like AM640's Craig Bromell literately calling Toronto's poor, human trash, everyday panhandlers are berated in many ways due to their current status in life. By being called a bum, leech, loser, burden on society to the point of extremes, such as mayor wanna be Jane Pitfield's desire to round them all up and throw them in the hoosegow.

Whether these demeaning acts are the result of some humans nature that by having someone worse off than you makes one feel that, well at least my life isn't as bad as that persons and therefore feeling elevated with their own lot in life is dependent on each individuals personality.

About the point on whether panhandling can be considered a job, if you consider a job is the simplest of terms, it's basically payment for a service rendered.
Those doing the paying are the bosses, those accepting the payment are employees. So picture this scenario, that probably occurs with some frequency in Toronto.

Joe Blow driving home from work, not in the best of moods due to everything from frustrations of traffic to the fact that the 1st period of the Leafs game has been missed, come up to an intersection at a red-light and sees a dishevelled person, spotting a cardboard sign that read, "NEED FOOD".

Said driver already in quite a pissy mood, that he/she would have taken home to the spouse and kids. Rolls down the window and proceeds to hurl all manner of obscenities at a person already struggling at their current lot in life. The Driver when the light turns green accelerates home feeling better at having vented the days frustrations, by elevating themselves and putting another down.
The anger was released and therefore not taken home, unfortunately more often than not, the driver remains ignorant of damage left behind in its wake.
The panhandler meanwhile feels worse about an already bad situation and didn't even receive a dime for this service rendered. While another car might come by and give a buck with more pleasant results. There's not many folks out there who would take such abuse from the person signing their paychecks.

Personally I couldn't handle such daily abuses that continue to be deemed socially acceptable and it's one of the reasons I became Mark The Litter Guy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Mark!
Sounds Like Canada is interested in possibly interviewing you.
What's your email?
theresa.lalonde@cbc.ca