What's Your Handle?

"Do you have twenty-seven cents you could give me?" asked the bum standing behind us as we watched the parade. Cameron was closest to him, so he turned around, puzzled by such a specific request.

"Why are you asking for twenty-seven cents?"

"Because if I asked you for a dollar you wouldn't give it to me."

"What makes you think I'm going to give you twenty-seven cents?"

"I don't know."

Cameron dug in his pocket and found two quarters. He put them in the man's hand and told him to have a nice day. We were getting a little tired of the parade anyway, so we started to walk away.

"You're a good man!" shouted the bum. We were a little afraid that he would try and follow us, but he stopped after a few steps. "I mean that, a good man!"

We had to practically step over another bum at the next intersection. This one was just talking to himself, though, not asking for money.

"Why are there so many of them in Salt Lake?" whispered Charly. She was still adjusting since moving here from suburban Arizona. "And stop talking to them," she jabbed Cameron in the ribs with her elbow.

"I was just trying to be nice," he replied.

Bums

Transients

Panhandlers

"The homeless"

What is your attitude toward people who live on the street? Do you feel sorry for them? Are you afraid of them? Do you ignore them?

We were coming out of a restaurant in downtown Ogden a few years ago and a man asked us if we had an insulin "rig" because his "friend" was going to go into shock if he didn't get his shot. I knew what he really wanted the needle for, and I couldn't believe he was approaching families on the street to ask for one. I told him to go into the restaurant and call 911.

I like to think I'll help someone out if I can. I don't usually carry change with me. And I'm not sure it's good to encourage panhandling. In some places it's against the law.

But I won't turn someone down if they want my twenty-seven cents.