When i was younger i would always reach into my pockets and give whatever small change i had to a homeless person on the street. I felt very sorry for them and wondered how awful it would be to be in that situation. That was when i was around 15/16.
Now that i'm nearing 20, and as part of the lesson we all learn slowly as we grow up (that people are, in essence, douchebags), i literally never give money to homeless people. I wont even acknowledge them.
Why? Well, one pretty famous homeless man in Liverpool city centre used to stand around with a cardboard guitar pretending to play, like he was mentally deranged. One day the local radio station decided to follow him, only to find that he puts on an outfit to appear homeless and actually lived in a very nice house. People felt so sorry for him that he was actually making a killing just begging on the streets.
Second, now that i'm older and live in the city centre, i'm out a lot at night time as opposed to when i was younger and was only ever in town to go shopping. I now regularly see the usual homeless folks that you encounter passed out in the street drunk, or selling drugs outside of night clubs.
Finally, as an adult who has to pay my own way and earn my own money, i'm now far more conservative with my money and with the whole idea of hard work and earning a living. As a teenager, your money is nearly exclusively given to you by someone else. You have no value for it. When you have to work for every penny you have, you find yourself resentful of these people on the street who expect you to just give it to them when they could get a job if they could be bothered to apply themselves properly.
That's my way of thinking, anyway.
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