To drive men from independence to live on alms, is itself great cruelty.
-Edmund Burke
The rich man who gives to the poor does not bestow alms but pays a debt.
-Ambrose
The Social Services lady paid Pilar a visit last week. Not a formal sit-down. She drives down the main drag, looking for people who may be in dire straits, and she flags Pilar down if she sees her outside. They discuss the homeless.
“She wanted to know if I had seen a tall, black-haired, younger man who was unshaven and filthy. I told her I had not.”
Why would she come to you to ask for the whereabouts of the derelicts?
“I have a bathroom. All of them need bathrooms.”
You mean they use the restaurant bathrooms?
“Where else would they go? Last month a young lady walked in at seven in the morning, right after I opened. She had a toothbrush and toothpaste in her hand. Her hair was wild. She had smudges of dirt in her face and legs. She asked if she could come in to brush her teeth. She was very polite. Her Spanish was good.”
It sounds presumptuous to me. Why does she think she is entitled to free bathroom services?
“It happens all the time. I let her in. She took her backpack with her and spent forty minutes in the bathroom. She walked out looking like a supermodel. Sexy short skirt; immaculate hairdo; clean skin; smelling of perfume. As if she had taken a shower in that cubbyhole. I looked in the bathroom after she left. It was immaculate. She even swept and mopped it.”
The problem of what to do with the homeless is not new. Even before Matthew 25, wise philosophers have spoken of what to do about hungry strangers who ask for shelter. Should we ask them to walk in for a free meal, as Jesus suggests we must do?
In the old days they did not have Holiday Inns for travelers. Wanderers relied on the kindness of strangers. What inns were available were often infested with fleas, dirty, and the food was inedible. Strangers did not always come begging: invading armies relied on pillaging the countryside to feed and house their troops. It is understandable that most of us are selective when it comes to sharing what we have with people we do not know.
But giving is always a problem. Pilar told me that at least once a week a “tourist” who speaks no Spanish will place an order (with the help of Google and sign language) for food that he or she has no intention of paying for. They react with shock when they are turned down.
You see beggars sitting on the sidewalk at regular intervals along the main drag. Many of them have a cute puppy with them because animals elicit sympathy. People who would refuse to feed a hungry child cannot resist giving money to the owner of a dog with sad eyes. Each has his or her own spot.
Pilar told me that six months ago a Scandinavian couple in their sixties placed themselves in front of the ATM at the bank that is a few steps down the sidewalk. At the end of the day the lady would bring the small change to Pilar, to trade it for a large bill. Small merchants always need the change. Pilar says they regularly collected 40 euros during the day. You can eat very well on that amount. The couple stayed for a few months, having enjoyed a (mostly) free vacation.
I am told that provinces are given a lot of leeway by the central government as to how to deal with beggars. Pilar has relatives in Mallorca. She says that they arrest beggars over there. They are forced to turn in every cent that they collect, and they are fined on top of that. She says you never see any beggars in Mallorca.
The fact remains that there are many people in need. Few, if any, reasonable humans would deny help to them. There is a problem: the Spanish state has passed laws that provide strong social protection. Besides free health care, there is a guaranteed minimal income.
I have been told of numerous cases of children of well-off parents who collect this form of unemployment from the government. Four or five hundred euros a month does not sound like much, but five of these people can move in together in a tiny apartment, pay four hundred euros in rent, and have enough left over to eat well and take vacations. If they beg or have a street performer gig on the side, their lifestyle is downright comfortable.
The Spanish nation does a lot to try to help. They have lotteries whose profits are designated for the blind or needy. There are jobs that do not require much exertion that are saved for people with disabilities. The Spanish people have come up with Salvation Army-like stores to benefit cancer patients, or needy children, or a slew of other sufferers.
There are more than a million undocumented immigrants living in Spain. One way or another, they are taken care of. It is clear the culture is one of generosity. These kind-hearted efforts drive the right-wing political parties crazy. Their websites are chock full of urban legends that portray people who have gamed the system.
If there are people who “cheat,” there will never be enough for those who are in need. It is impossible to define what “being in need” means in real terms. Politicians are adept at taking advantage of this situation. The right-wingers accuse the poor of being lazy and the socialists of pandering to them; the left-wingers accuse their opponents of being heartless. No one seems interested in finding a reasonable solution to the problem.
I no longer give money to people who beg. I am generous to youngsters I know, some better than others, and I try to make sure the generous sums I give them are used for education and immediate needs. I find it difficult to turn down a young mother who approaches me, baby in her arms, to tell me she needs money for the bus that will take her to the drug abuse clinic. But I do. Maybe I will go to hell for this infraction.
I wish that the people in power would get together and find a compromise. I yearn for the day in which I can go to sleep knowing that all Spanish and American children are going to sleep with a full tummy in a warm bed. We should be able to afford this. Where do we start?
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