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sometimes I hate that I care about people too much

I'm not a religious person nor do i follow a religion. I think they are all corrupt and have been used (still being used) as a tool to oppress people. However, I do pray for others. I'm walking down the street and I see someone in need. I have the strongest urge to give them a dollar or some food. Yesterday, I saw someone asking for some money. He claimed it was for "food." I went to a local subways restaurant and bought a sandwich for him. Dude started complaining that it had mayonnaise when I gave it to him. So he didn't want the sandwich. Even with that, I had the urge to pray that this person gets the helps he needs to get off the streets. It annoys me that I care for people that don't deserve shit.
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empanadas · 31-35, M Pinned Comment
To be the people calling me a judgemental prick or creep, the irony is that I'm not even coming at this from an outside view. I got kicked out of my parents home when I was 17 for doing some really stupid shit. I had to sleep on benches at the park. I only asked for food. Most of the time I got pocket change. Anything people gave me anything, I thanked them. Even if it's something I didn't like to eat. I would still find a way to eat it. I even cried at times. The problem is alot of these homeless you see are not even homeless at all and get food stamps. Basically abusing the system. Meanwhile there are people out there who really are down on their luck. This place disappoints me to no end
calicuz · 56-60, M
@empanadas

A lot of the homeless also have mental dissorders. They need professional help, some even need to be in hospitals.
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WhateverWorks · 36-40
@empanadas I definitely don’t feel like your post was judgement. You’re also right that some of them aren’t homeless. At the same time, it’s not helpful to assume everybody is abusing the system until they do something that proves to you otherwise (like, for all you know, this guy might have an allergy to eggs. You just don’t know).. so not so much for their sake, although that plays a part, but for your own heart. The thought processes calluses it unnecessarily.

I also want add that there’s a difference between someone who is newly homeless versus how you feel after you’ve been homeless for an extended period of time. Someone might assume that the longer you are homeless the more desperate, more in despair you become, but that’s not what happens in a modern society where there are resources to lessen literal death in the streets. It’s a trade off. Humans are also adaptive. Even the ones who have severe illness and addiction also have survival mechanisms that seek out some kind of homeostasis (meaning not that desperation, despair that you felt when you were freshly sleeping on benches). If you’d been forced to be homeless longer (meaning you had no pre-existing resources to get back on your feet ) eventually you would’ve figured out better shelter than the bench, a better way to get food than whatever a stranger hands you, accustomed to various discomforts etc