Helping The Homeless In The Rich Brother By Tobias Wolff

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Helping the Homeless
When walking to any major city or urban area in the United States, one is bound to see someone sitting on the edge of the street with signs begging for money or trying to show their talents, so they can receive something to help support them. There are many different reasons that one could or would become homeless, but no matter what the circumstances, it is very sad to see people living on the streets with no way to support themselves other that just asking for handouts from others. This does not mean that in some cases it is not their own fault, that they made some poor life decisions that led to them being on the streets begging for money. Sometimes however it is not their fault and it is more a series of very poor luck
The brother who is doing very well financially, Peter, feels the moral obligation to look after his brother who seems to always be making the wrong decisions. Donald, the poorer brother, does not care much for money and anytime he gets it, whether that be from Pete or his church group, he finds a way to lose it and not be able to help himself. Pete can be seen getting very angry with Donald because he cares about him and he just wants to help him, but he does not realize that it is not just money that Donald needs, but it is guidance. This and other reasons are why we should not give our money to the poor. Giving money can lead to poor decisions and there are many other ways to try to help that can be surer in helping them to improve their living conditions. Just giving money can be detrimental however and it needs to
In a study reported by the National Coalition for the Homeless, it was found that nearly two-thirds of homeless people say that drugs and alcohol had a major influence on their homelessness (2009, p. 2). This means that not only are people trying it after they become homeless, but it is also prevalent before they become homeless. This means that they may already have an addiction that would need to be fed and they may have the intent to spend all money that they have on this addiction. It is almost impossible to know what the money that is given them is going towards as well because they would not advertise that they want money to feed their addiction and it would be impossible for every person who is willing to give to follow up and check to see what their money was spent on. This allows for poor decision making with little effect on their ability to get handouts. And as mentioned before this does not help them to get out of their situation. Substance abuse, although it may make the situation seem better, only prolongs the suffering as it makes getting jobs and other things necessary for a stable life much more difficult (Substance Abuse and Homelessness, 2009, p. 2). There must be other steps taken other than just giving handouts of money to help these people in

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