ABC did an undercover video in a market of people using food stamps to pay for their purchases. The person purchasing the food does not have enough food stamps to complete the purchase. People around her step in to help here pay for the food. I fond that very uplifting, the generosity of the average American. In this political season it is nice to see Americans being Americans.
There is a commercial before the clip you have to put up with.
http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo...ection=4765066
This is great to hear, it does help to revive your faith in the goodness of people...
Maybe it's just me, but I think most Americans (indeed, all people) are inclined to help when they see the need personally and know they can do something directly to help resolve it. It's when needs and assistance are depersonalized (or, worse, demonized) in the service of some ideology or another that we get weird about it.
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington
I've said before that--contrary to Puritan dogma--decency is our default setting.
A couple of weeks ago I was standing in line at a Subway sandwich place inside the student center at the local toney private University. I had less than $1 on me to buy a cookie. A nice young student there heard me inquire about the cost of the cookie and explain that I only had $.72 and immediately she said "I'll buy that cookie for you!" That was very sweet! As it turns out, I did have enough to buy the cookie. And while I'm sure I've got loads more money than that student, I'm not certain that I've got more than her parents. But you never know.
The video will not play for me, for some reason. So I don't know if it showed what she bought, but I do wonder about comparison. You certainly can't control all the variables (the past experiences of those filmed that influence them), but I would like to see this with both someone with, and without kids, as well as having alcohol and cigarettes both in and not, in their purchases. I would think you would see that people are willing to more help those who help themselves, then those still doing self destruction behaviors.
You are probably wright. The mother in the clip indicated she was buying food for her kids. But it was still uplifting.
Just a few days ago I bought a guy a hotdog, in 7-11 (oh that place is so shady KWIM), and a guy asked me "will you buy me a hotdog?", and it was disarming, I couldn't say no to a question like that, if he had asked for money I easily could have (he'll just use it to buy booze etc.), but he wanted to eat. He just wanted a fricken hotdog, you know, hard to refuse. Now he was obviously an addict, had no kids in tow (and while kids are a little more sad, they aren't some automatic tearjerker for the child-free, I'm of the opinion adult life can be *hard* too) and disappeared like a ghost as soon as he received his hotdog but ... even addicts need to eat.
Trees don't grow on money
And cooperation! In the non-profit world, it's well understood that the majority of individual donors are those of modest income. They give a higher percentage of their overall income, and are more consistent in their giving. Nonprofits are well advised to cultivate these donors!Originally Posted by JaneV2.0
It's great to see the news media reporting this kind of thing!
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