Handling the Homeless Where I Live

Off Topic
81

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:
pretty much completely unrelated to this thread…

several months ago when HG started posting I thought: “I really dont think I like this guy. He sounds like a total tool bag.”

Now, after reading a lot of his posts in several different threads I think: “Ya know… I think I kinda like this guy.”

LOL

that is all.[/quote]

Nope. You had it right the first time, Gregron. Don’t be fooled by the occasional glimpse of reason.

I’m not sure what I’d do about the guys on my step.

Here’s my policy on the homeless in general. Do some research and find a reputable charity or two that you can feel good about supporting. It’s even better if it’s something local. Then give to them every month. Have it auto debited so you won’t forget about it, and make it be enough to hurt a little. If you have a decent job, then 10% of your income is a good place to start. It makes it a priority in your life. Then when you see a homeless person, you can either hand them 10 or 20 bucks if you feel inclined (my husband usually does this), or you can usually assume that you are feeding someone’s alcohol or drug problem and walk away (that’s usually me). You don’t have to feel bad because you have charities that you support. [/quote]

Why is something local better? Why not a well known and established charity that helps people all over the world like CARE or Doctors Without Borders? No matter how bad things seem for the homeless and underprivileged in America, things are much worse for people in other parts of the world. I have spoken to homeless people in America before and many of them eat more in a day then I did growing up in the Soviet Union, and there are many people all over the world worse off then I was.

82

[quote]HoustonGuy wrote:
I can usually spot a bitch who’s been cheap with her sexuality at some point and projects her regret. Most of them are gone though.[/quote]

I’m still here, Sparkles.

83

[quote]gregron wrote:
pretty much completely unrelated to this thread…

several months ago when HG started posting I thought: “I really dont think I like this guy. He sounds like a total tool bag.”

Now, after reading a lot of his posts in several different threads I think: “Ya know… I think I kinda like this guy.”

LOL

that is all.[/quote]

I thought the same thing at first, and now I find myself agreeing with him way more often than not.

84

[quote]HoustonGuy wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:

Not all of us had a silver spoon, HG

[/quote]

Funny, I’ve told him the exact same thing several times.[/quote]
Like it changes the OP scenario on bit.

Or detracts from my vision, effort, risk and success. There are people I grew up with who can’t or won’t do what I do even though they have the same general story.

What ifs are what they are but had I been born poor I do think I would’ve “come up”. It’s simply my nature. It’s not like MBA programs are easy, especially not top tier programs. Neither is entrepreneurship. Drugs are rampant in the 'burbs. I use them. But I’m not hiding from life with them, key mental difference.

Sexual abuse happens every where, divorce, alcoholism…

A “silver spoon” equals growing up in a comfortable house. I went to public school, had a job, made the effort to get in to college et cetera. It’s not like I’m a Hilton with a trust fund. Just grew up in a house with a pool instead of a bungalow.

The “silver spoon” bullshit is not only irrelevant to the OP but grossly mis-applied to my own success. If it makes one feel better to discredit my effort and the balls only an entrepreneur could understand though, so be it.[/quote]

First of all, I’m not taking ANYTHING away from what you did to become successful. I know all too well the sacrifices and hard work that an entrepreneur has to make to be successful. In fact if I recall correctly, you were on the verge of bankruptcy and had given it your all and were about to shut down when you got the contract that breathed life into your business and you fucking did it. RESPECT for that, bro.

BUT, and you knew there was a but, you learned what you did by by getting an MBA at a top university. MOST of the people attending your school were upper middle class white folks, yes? You’re being VERY disingenuous by really believing that just because we’re in America ANYONE can do ANYTHING regardless of their background. It SOUNDS good, but look at the REALITY. People almost NEVER overcome their poverty and upbringing, and I fucking KNOW what it takes to do it, because I’ve done it. It’s fucking HARD, bro. Damn near impossible. I literally had to rewire my whole brain and thought process to be able to evolve to the point where I could over come MY particular set of circumstance. And even THEN all it took was a change in gov’t regulation, a few bad business decisions (I wouldn’t CHANGE the decisions, but they didn’t help my business) and a shitty economy to put me back to working with my tools.

(for those of you who are new and don’t know me, here’s the quick and dirty summary: I was born on Greenmount and 33rd in Baltimore City, My mother’s first four husbands beat the shit out of me until I left home at 16, started selling drugs, switched to pulling armed robberies, didn’t graduate HS, got caught when I was 18, got out of prison when I was 22, became a carpenter, then an electrician, when I was 32 I got into the mortgage business and became very successful, started, incubated and sold a bunch of small businesses including a very successful renewable energy company and marketing company, got my ass handed to me in a divorce, lost a bunch of money in the market, paid over a hundred thousand for the last few years of my grandmother’s nursing home and the coup de gras happened last year due to a change in regulation - had to stop doing mortgage altogether because of my felony conviction which is now 19 years old. Now I work as a rig electrician and still have a 50% stake in my marketing company, which my partner and I really just use as a write off for taxes. After the rise and fall of my “entrepreneurial run” I figure I have a net worth of about 300K including my properties. Which isn’t FANTASTIC, but it’s not bad for a felon without a HS diploma) But I digress.

Not everyone can do that. You get your panties in a wad because you perceive that people don’t respect the work you did and the sacrifices you made to get where you’re at. You played the hand you were dealt almost perfectly. But you were dealt pocket aces, bro. Don’t pretend for a minute that you weren’t. Yeah, you struggled for a few years after college - no doubt. You worked 18 hour days and risked everything. For a few years. I’ve been fighting my whole fucking LIFE to get where I’m at and my net worth is still probably only 20% of yours (or less - you tell me) and I’ve got ten years on you… You see the difference?

And I’m in NO WAY trying to toot my own horn here - I’m using myself as an example of the EXCEPTION. And frankly, I honestly don’t know how the fuck I got so lucky to be where I am. I was a straight up asshole street thug from Baltimore back when we were the murder capital of the US… The only plausible explanation that I can come up with is that shortly after I got out, I contracted viral meningitis, spent three months in a coma and almost died. I woke up with sporadic memory loss and an unexplained increase in mathematical ability. My hypothesis is that the virus probably killed a bunch of brain cells, and some of the cells contained my negative thought patterns and habits. My brain was LITERALLY rewired by an illness. Combine that with an EXTRAORDINARY amount of LUCK and I was able to break free from the “gravity” of my upbringing and subsequent incarceration. And when I say luck, I mean I’m the luckiest muther fucker you ever met. Seriously, a cat ain’t got SHIT on me - I should have been dead over a hundred times. Instead, I happen to bump into, befriend and become business partners with one of the top financial guru’s in Deutsche Bank! And I made (and lost LOL) a small fortune marketing his brain…

My journey up and down the totem pole of success was pretty extraordinary. You simply can’t expect just “anyone” coming from a poor background to escape all the BULLSHIT that goes along with being poor. It RARELY happens.

85

[quote]anonym wrote:

[quote]Christine wrote:

[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
Maybe treat them like any other human being? If you want to get to know them, do so. If not, ignore them just like anybody else you come across. If you live in a rough area, walking around at night will dangerous no matter what, so you may want to think about carrying around mace or a taser.[/quote]

This. Talk to them.

Once, I was backing out of a parking spot and felt a bump. Another woman was backing out at the same time and we hit each other. Out of nowhere I hear , “Chris, Chris, Chris… I saw it all! She hit you!”

Turns out it was one of our local homeless guys who I was friendly with and had just bought dinner for a few weeks earlier. Honestly, have no idea who was at fault, but her insurance paid.

[/quote]

The most surprising thing about this story is that, out of two women drivers, only ONE of them was at fault.[/quote]

Don’t the studies all show that women are better drivers?

Whatever, we probably were both at fault, so your world is okay ;-).

I was late for class and she was willing to take the blame. I stil feel bad for not giving Teddy a ride, but I was in a hurry.

86

[quote]angry chicken wrote:

My journey up and down the totem pole of success was pretty extraordinary. You simply can’t expect just “anyone” coming from a poor background to escape all the BULLSHIT that goes along with being poor. It RARELY happens.[/quote]

Just highlighting this last bit for emphasis. Poor and homeless people in America have a LOT of advantages as far as improving their station in life compared to other parts of the world, but it is still by no means easy or common for them to do so. You can learn a lot about the people who spent the majority of their lives in comfort just from their responses to stuff like this.

87

I just developed a wee bit of a man crush on Angry Chicken. Not related to the original post, but had to say it.
Respect.

Carry on.

89

[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:
pretty much completely unrelated to this thread…

several months ago when HG started posting I thought: “I really dont think I like this guy. He sounds like a total tool bag.”

Now, after reading a lot of his posts in several different threads I think: “Ya know… I think I kinda like this guy.”

LOL

that is all.[/quote]

Nope. You had it right the first time, Gregron. Don’t be fooled by the occasional glimpse of reason.

I’m not sure what I’d do about the guys on my step.

Here’s my policy on the homeless in general. Do some research and find a reputable charity or two that you can feel good about supporting. It’s even better if it’s something local. Then give to them every month. Have it auto debited so you won’t forget about it, and make it be enough to hurt a little. If you have a decent job, then 10% of your income is a good place to start. It makes it a priority in your life. Then when you see a homeless person, you can either hand them 10 or 20 bucks if you feel inclined (my husband usually does this), or you can usually assume that you are feeding someone’s alcohol or drug problem and walk away (that’s usually me). You don’t have to feel bad because you have charities that you support. [/quote]

Why is something local better? Why not a well known and established charity that helps people all over the world like CARE or Doctors Without Borders? No matter how bad things seem for the homeless and underprivileged in America, things are much worse for people in other parts of the world. I have spoken to homeless people in America before and many of them eat more in a day then I did growing up in the Soviet Union, and there are many people all over the world worse off then I was.[/quote]

I wrote an article about charity and who it should be to and under what conditions. I’ll see if I can dig it up.

90

[quote]angry chicken wrote:

[quote]HoustonGuy wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:

Not all of us had a silver spoon, HG

[/quote]

Funny, I’ve told him the exact same thing several times.[/quote]
Like it changes the OP scenario on bit.

Or detracts from my vision, effort, risk and success. There are people I grew up with who can’t or won’t do what I do even though they have the same general story.

What ifs are what they are but had I been born poor I do think I would’ve “come up”. It’s simply my nature. It’s not like MBA programs are easy, especially not top tier programs. Neither is entrepreneurship. Drugs are rampant in the 'burbs. I use them. But I’m not hiding from life with them, key mental difference.

Sexual abuse happens every where, divorce, alcoholism…

A “silver spoon” equals growing up in a comfortable house. I went to public school, had a job, made the effort to get in to college et cetera. It’s not like I’m a Hilton with a trust fund. Just grew up in a house with a pool instead of a bungalow.

The “silver spoon” bullshit is not only irrelevant to the OP but grossly mis-applied to my own success. If it makes one feel better to discredit my effort and the balls only an entrepreneur could understand though, so be it.[/quote]

First of all, I’m not taking ANYTHING away from what you did to become successful. I know all too well the sacrifices and hard work that an entrepreneur has to make to be successful. In fact if I recall correctly, you were on the verge of bankruptcy and had given it your all and were about to shut down when you got the contract that breathed life into your business and you fucking did it. RESPECT for that, bro.

BUT, and you knew there was a but, you learned what you did by by getting an MBA at a top university. MOST of the people attending your school were upper middle class white folks, yes? You’re being VERY disingenuous by really believing that just because we’re in America ANYONE can do ANYTHING regardless of their background. It SOUNDS good, but look at the REALITY. People almost NEVER overcome their poverty and upbringing, and I fucking KNOW what it takes to do it, because I’ve done it. It’s fucking HARD, bro. Damn near impossible. I literally had to rewire my whole brain and thought process to be able to evolve to the point where I could over come MY particular set of circumstance. And even THEN all it took was a change in gov’t regulation, a few bad business decisions (I wouldn’t CHANGE the decisions, but they didn’t help my business) and a shitty economy to put me back to working with my tools.

(for those of you who are new and don’t know me, here’s the quick and dirty summary: I was born on Greenmount and 33rd in Baltimore City, My mother’s first four husbands beat the shit out of me until I left home at 16, started selling drugs, switched to pulling armed robberies, didn’t graduate HS, got caught when I was 18, got out of prison when I was 22, became a carpenter, then an electrician, when I was 32 I got into the mortgage business and became very successful, started, incubated and sold a bunch of small businesses including a very successful renewable energy company and marketing company, got my ass handed to me in a divorce, lost a bunch of money in the market, paid over a hundred thousand for the last few years of my grandmother’s nursing home and the coup de gras happened last year due to a change in regulation - had to stop doing mortgage altogether because of my felony conviction which is now 19 years old. Now I work as a rig electrician and still have a 50% stake in my marketing company, which my partner and I really just use as a write off for taxes. After the rise and fall of my “entrepreneurial run” I figure I have a net worth of about 300K including my properties. Which isn’t FANTASTIC, but it’s not bad for a felon without a HS diploma) But I digress.

Not everyone can do that. You get your panties in a wad because you perceive that people don’t respect the work you did and the sacrifices you made to get where you’re at. You played the hand you were dealt almost perfectly. But you were dealt pocket aces, bro. Don’t pretend for a minute that you weren’t. Yeah, you struggled for a few years after college - no doubt. You worked 18 hour days and risked everything. For a few years. I’ve been fighting my whole fucking LIFE to get where I’m at and my net worth is still probably only 20% of yours (or less - you tell me) and I’ve got ten years on you… You see the difference?

And I’m in NO WAY trying to toot my own horn here - I’m using myself as an example of the EXCEPTION. And frankly, I honestly don’t know how the fuck I got so lucky to be where I am. I was a straight up asshole street thug from Baltimore back when we were the murder capital of the US… The only plausible explanation that I can come up with is that shortly after I got out, I contracted viral meningitis, spent three months in a coma and almost died. I woke up with sporadic memory loss and an unexplained increase in mathematical ability. My hypothesis is that the virus probably killed a bunch of brain cells, and some of the cells contained my negative thought patterns and habits. My brain was LITERALLY rewired by an illness. Combine that with an EXTRAORDINARY amount of LUCK and I was able to break free from the “gravity” of my upbringing and subsequent incarceration. And when I say luck, I mean I’m the luckiest muther fucker you ever met. Seriously, a cat ain’t got SHIT on me - I should have been dead over a hundred times. Instead, I happen to bump into, befriend and become business partners with one of the top financial guru’s in Deutsche Bank! And I made (and lost LOL) a small fortune marketing his brain…

My journey up and down the totem pole of success was pretty extraordinary. You simply can’t expect just “anyone” coming from a poor background to escape all the BULLSHIT that goes along with being poor. It RARELY happens.[/quote]

You obviously didn’t try hard enough. Because being rich just takes hard work, right? :wink:

91

[quote]Christine wrote:

[quote]HoustonGuy wrote:
I can usually spot a bitch who’s been cheap with her sexuality at some point and projects her regret. Most of them are gone though.[/quote]

I’m still here, Sparkles. [/quote]
Interesting.

92

[quote]Brother Chris wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:

[quote]HoustonGuy wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:

Not all of us had a silver spoon, HG

[/quote]

Funny, I’ve told him the exact same thing several times.[/quote]
Like it changes the OP scenario on bit.

Or detracts from my vision, effort, risk and success. There are people I grew up with who can’t or won’t do what I do even though they have the same general story.

What ifs are what they are but had I been born poor I do think I would’ve “come up”. It’s simply my nature. It’s not like MBA programs are easy, especially not top tier programs. Neither is entrepreneurship. Drugs are rampant in the 'burbs. I use them. But I’m not hiding from life with them, key mental difference.

Sexual abuse happens every where, divorce, alcoholism…

A “silver spoon” equals growing up in a comfortable house. I went to public school, had a job, made the effort to get in to college et cetera. It’s not like I’m a Hilton with a trust fund. Just grew up in a house with a pool instead of a bungalow.

The “silver spoon” bullshit is not only irrelevant to the OP but grossly mis-applied to my own success. If it makes one feel better to discredit my effort and the balls only an entrepreneur could understand though, so be it.[/quote]

First of all, I’m not taking ANYTHING away from what you did to become successful. I know all too well the sacrifices and hard work that an entrepreneur has to make to be successful. In fact if I recall correctly, you were on the verge of bankruptcy and had given it your all and were about to shut down when you got the contract that breathed life into your business and you fucking did it. RESPECT for that, bro.

BUT, and you knew there was a but, you learned what you did by by getting an MBA at a top university. MOST of the people attending your school were upper middle class white folks, yes? You’re being VERY disingenuous by really believing that just because we’re in America ANYONE can do ANYTHING regardless of their background. It SOUNDS good, but look at the REALITY. People almost NEVER overcome their poverty and upbringing, and I fucking KNOW what it takes to do it, because I’ve done it. It’s fucking HARD, bro. Damn near impossible. I literally had to rewire my whole brain and thought process to be able to evolve to the point where I could over come MY particular set of circumstance. And even THEN all it took was a change in gov’t regulation, a few bad business decisions (I wouldn’t CHANGE the decisions, but they didn’t help my business) and a shitty economy to put me back to working with my tools.

(for those of you who are new and don’t know me, here’s the quick and dirty summary: I was born on Greenmount and 33rd in Baltimore City, My mother’s first four husbands beat the shit out of me until I left home at 16, started selling drugs, switched to pulling armed robberies, didn’t graduate HS, got caught when I was 18, got out of prison when I was 22, became a carpenter, then an electrician, when I was 32 I got into the mortgage business and became very successful, started, incubated and sold a bunch of small businesses including a very successful renewable energy company and marketing company, got my ass handed to me in a divorce, lost a bunch of money in the market, paid over a hundred thousand for the last few years of my grandmother’s nursing home and the coup de gras happened last year due to a change in regulation - had to stop doing mortgage altogether because of my felony conviction which is now 19 years old. Now I work as a rig electrician and still have a 50% stake in my marketing company, which my partner and I really just use as a write off for taxes. After the rise and fall of my “entrepreneurial run” I figure I have a net worth of about 300K including my properties. Which isn’t FANTASTIC, but it’s not bad for a felon without a HS diploma) But I digress.

Not everyone can do that. You get your panties in a wad because you perceive that people don’t respect the work you did and the sacrifices you made to get where you’re at. You played the hand you were dealt almost perfectly. But you were dealt pocket aces, bro. Don’t pretend for a minute that you weren’t. Yeah, you struggled for a few years after college - no doubt. You worked 18 hour days and risked everything. For a few years. I’ve been fighting my whole fucking LIFE to get where I’m at and my net worth is still probably only 20% of yours (or less - you tell me) and I’ve got ten years on you… You see the difference?

And I’m in NO WAY trying to toot my own horn here - I’m using myself as an example of the EXCEPTION. And frankly, I honestly don’t know how the fuck I got so lucky to be where I am. I was a straight up asshole street thug from Baltimore back when we were the murder capital of the US… The only plausible explanation that I can come up with is that shortly after I got out, I contracted viral meningitis, spent three months in a coma and almost died. I woke up with sporadic memory loss and an unexplained increase in mathematical ability. My hypothesis is that the virus probably killed a bunch of brain cells, and some of the cells contained my negative thought patterns and habits. My brain was LITERALLY rewired by an illness. Combine that with an EXTRAORDINARY amount of LUCK and I was able to break free from the “gravity” of my upbringing and subsequent incarceration. And when I say luck, I mean I’m the luckiest muther fucker you ever met. Seriously, a cat ain’t got SHIT on me - I should have been dead over a hundred times. Instead, I happen to bump into, befriend and become business partners with one of the top financial guru’s in Deutsche Bank! And I made (and lost LOL) a small fortune marketing his brain…

My journey up and down the totem pole of success was pretty extraordinary. You simply can’t expect just “anyone” coming from a poor background to escape all the BULLSHIT that goes along with being poor. It RARELY happens.[/quote]

You obviously didn’t try hard enough. Because being rich just takes hard work, right? ;)[/quote]

No. He just didn’t have any bootstraps.

:wink:

93

[quote]angry chicken wrote:

[quote]HoustonGuy wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:

Not all of us had a silver spoon, HG

[/quote]

Funny, I’ve told him the exact same thing several times.[/quote]
Like it changes the OP scenario on bit.

Or detracts from my vision, effort, risk and success. There are people I grew up with who can’t or won’t do what I do even though they have the same general story.

What ifs are what they are but had I been born poor I do think I would’ve “come up”. It’s simply my nature. It’s not like MBA programs are easy, especially not top tier programs. Neither is entrepreneurship. Drugs are rampant in the 'burbs. I use them. But I’m not hiding from life with them, key mental difference.

Sexual abuse happens every where, divorce, alcoholism…

A “silver spoon” equals growing up in a comfortable house. I went to public school, had a job, made the effort to get in to college et cetera. It’s not like I’m a Hilton with a trust fund. Just grew up in a house with a pool instead of a bungalow.

The “silver spoon” bullshit is not only irrelevant to the OP but grossly mis-applied to my own success. If it makes one feel better to discredit my effort and the balls only an entrepreneur could understand though, so be it.[/quote]

First of all, I’m not taking ANYTHING away from what you did to become successful. I know all too well the sacrifices and hard work that an entrepreneur has to make to be successful. In fact if I recall correctly, you were on the verge of bankruptcy and had given it your all and were about to shut down when you got the contract that breathed life into your business and you fucking did it. RESPECT for that, bro.

BUT, and you knew there was a but, you learned what you did by by getting an MBA at a top university. MOST of the people attending your school were upper middle class white folks, yes? You’re being VERY disingenuous by really believing that just because we’re in America ANYONE can do ANYTHING regardless of their background. It SOUNDS good, but look at the REALITY. People almost NEVER overcome their poverty and upbringing, and I fucking KNOW what it takes to do it, because I’ve done it. It’s fucking HARD, bro. Damn near impossible. I literally had to rewire my whole brain and thought process to be able to evolve to the point where I could over come MY particular set of circumstance. And even THEN all it took was a change in gov’t regulation, a few bad business decisions (I wouldn’t CHANGE the decisions, but they didn’t help my business) and a shitty economy to put me back to working with my tools.

(for those of you who are new and don’t know me, here’s the quick and dirty summary: I was born on Greenmount and 33rd in Baltimore City, My mother’s first four husbands beat the shit out of me until I left home at 16, started selling drugs, switched to pulling armed robberies, didn’t graduate HS, got caught when I was 18, got out of prison when I was 22, became a carpenter, then an electrician, when I was 32 I got into the mortgage business and became very successful, started, incubated and sold a bunch of small businesses including a very successful renewable energy company and marketing company, got my ass handed to me in a divorce, lost a bunch of money in the market, paid over a hundred thousand for the last few years of my grandmother’s nursing home and the coup de gras happened last year due to a change in regulation - had to stop doing mortgage altogether because of my felony conviction which is now 19 years old. Now I work as a rig electrician and still have a 50% stake in my marketing company, which my partner and I really just use as a write off for taxes. After the rise and fall of my “entrepreneurial run” I figure I have a net worth of about 300K including my properties. Which isn’t FANTASTIC, but it’s not bad for a felon without a HS diploma) But I digress.

Not everyone can do that. You get your panties in a wad because you perceive that people don’t respect the work you did and the sacrifices you made to get where you’re at. You played the hand you were dealt almost perfectly. But you were dealt pocket aces, bro. Don’t pretend for a minute that you weren’t. Yeah, you struggled for a few years after college - no doubt. You worked 18 hour days and risked everything. For a few years. I’ve been fighting my whole fucking LIFE to get where I’m at and my net worth is still probably only 20% of yours (or less - you tell me) and I’ve got ten years on you… You see the difference?

And I’m in NO WAY trying to toot my own horn here - I’m using myself as an example of the EXCEPTION. And frankly, I honestly don’t know how the fuck I got so lucky to be where I am. I was a straight up asshole street thug from Baltimore back when we were the murder capital of the US… The only plausible explanation that I can come up with is that shortly after I got out, I contracted viral meningitis, spent three months in a coma and almost died. I woke up with sporadic memory loss and an unexplained increase in mathematical ability. My hypothesis is that the virus probably killed a bunch of brain cells, and some of the cells contained my negative thought patterns and habits. My brain was LITERALLY rewired by an illness. Combine that with an EXTRAORDINARY amount of LUCK and I was able to break free from the “gravity” of my upbringing and subsequent incarceration. And when I say luck, I mean I’m the luckiest muther fucker you ever met. Seriously, a cat ain’t got SHIT on me - I should have been dead over a hundred times. Instead, I happen to bump into, befriend and become business partners with one of the top financial guru’s in Deutsche Bank! And I made (and lost LOL) a small fortune marketing his brain…

My journey up and down the totem pole of success was pretty extraordinary. You simply can’t expect just “anyone” coming from a poor background to escape all the BULLSHIT that goes along with being poor. It RARELY happens.[/quote]
While your story is impressive and motivational the implication I responded to was one suggesting that had I not been born in the suburbs, I’d never amount to anything which is just silly.

Regarding nature vs. nurture, some personality traits are inborn, including drive, ambition and “fight”. Would I be the owner of a securities brokerage had I been born poor? I have no idea. I certainly wouldn’t have laid down and sucked though, its not my nature any more than yours.

You did persevere through more than I did, absolutely no contest. In chushins “what if” however, I simply don’t believe I’d succumb to a victim mentality even if it were my demon to fight.

I’ve seen people given more than I had, actual trust funds, suck because they can’t handle various pressures of life and you are an example of “coming up” with an unfortunate twist to your mortgage brokerage, a similar industry that produces millionaires like hot cakes, assuming they manage money well.

Some people simply have “it” and some don’t, or won’t tap in.

Some people do give up, get addicted, et cetera and wind up on the street, obviously.

Tying back to the op, regardless of reasoning and back stories, dudes on your porch all strung out, desperate and with nothing to lose absolutely should be viewed in a negative light as it pertains to your belongings and your self.

  • General comment to thread: in before tough guy comments, I don’t fucking care. We all lift weights and stuff, 3:1 odds aren’t favorable, especially with knives or screwdrivers or something. Fuck you in advance you can squat a lot but you’re not a super hero, sorry.
94

[quote]angry chicken wrote:
First of all, I’m not taking ANYTHING away from what you did to become successful. I know all too well the sacrifices and hard work that an entrepreneur has to make to be successful. In fact if I recall correctly, you were on the verge of bankruptcy and had given it your all and were about to shut down when you got the contract that breathed life into your business and you fucking did it. RESPECT for that, bro.

BUT, and you knew there was a but, you learned what you did by by getting an MBA at a top university. MOST of the people attending your school were upper middle class white folks, yes? You’re being VERY disingenuous by really believing that just because we’re in America ANYONE can do ANYTHING regardless of their background. It SOUNDS good, but look at the REALITY. People almost NEVER overcome their poverty and upbringing, and I fucking KNOW what it takes to do it, because I’ve done it. It’s fucking HARD, bro. Damn near impossible. I literally had to rewire my whole brain and thought process to be able to evolve to the point where I could over come MY particular set of circumstance. And even THEN all it took was a change in gov’t regulation, a few bad business decisions (I wouldn’t CHANGE the decisions, but they didn’t help my business) and a shitty economy to put me back to working with my tools.

(for those of you who are new and don’t know me, here’s the quick and dirty summary: I was born on Greenmount and 33rd in Baltimore City, My mother’s first four husbands beat the shit out of me until I left home at 16, started selling drugs, switched to pulling armed robberies, didn’t graduate HS, got caught when I was 18, got out of prison when I was 22, became a carpenter, then an electrician, when I was 32 I got into the mortgage business and became very successful, started, incubated and sold a bunch of small businesses including a very successful renewable energy company and marketing company, got my ass handed to me in a divorce, lost a bunch of money in the market, paid over a hundred thousand for the last few years of my grandmother’s nursing home and the coup de gras happened last year due to a change in regulation - had to stop doing mortgage altogether because of my felony conviction which is now 19 years old. Now I work as a rig electrician and still have a 50% stake in my marketing company, which my partner and I really just use as a write off for taxes. After the rise and fall of my “entrepreneurial run” I figure I have a net worth of about 300K including my properties. Which isn’t FANTASTIC, but it’s not bad for a felon without a HS diploma) But I digress.

Not everyone can do that. You get your panties in a wad because you perceive that people don’t respect the work you did and the sacrifices you made to get where you’re at. You played the hand you were dealt almost perfectly. But you were dealt pocket aces, bro. Don’t pretend for a minute that you weren’t. Yeah, you struggled for a few years after college - no doubt. You worked 18 hour days and risked everything. For a few years. I’ve been fighting my whole fucking LIFE to get where I’m at and my net worth is still probably only 20% of yours (or less - you tell me) and I’ve got ten years on you… You see the difference?

And I’m in NO WAY trying to toot my own horn here - I’m using myself as an example of the EXCEPTION. And frankly, I honestly don’t know how the fuck I got so lucky to be where I am. I was a straight up asshole street thug from Baltimore back when we were the murder capital of the US… The only plausible explanation that I can come up with is that shortly after I got out, I contracted viral meningitis, spent three months in a coma and almost died. I woke up with sporadic memory loss and an unexplained increase in mathematical ability. My hypothesis is that the virus probably killed a bunch of brain cells, and some of the cells contained my negative thought patterns and habits. My brain was LITERALLY rewired by an illness. Combine that with an EXTRAORDINARY amount of LUCK and I was able to break free from the “gravity” of my upbringing and subsequent incarceration. And when I say luck, I mean I’m the luckiest muther fucker you ever met. Seriously, a cat ain’t got SHIT on me - I should have been dead over a hundred times. Instead, I happen to bump into, befriend and become business partners with one of the top financial guru’s in Deutsche Bank! And I made (and lost LOL) a small fortune marketing his brain…

My journey up and down the totem pole of success was pretty extraordinary. You simply can’t expect just “anyone” coming from a poor background to escape all the BULLSHIT that goes along with being poor. It RARELY happens.[/quote]

96

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]HoustonGuy wrote:
Regarding nature vs. nurture, some personality traits are inborn, including drive, ambition and “fight”. Would I be the owner of a securities brokerage had I been born poor? I have no idea. I certainly wouldn’t have laid down and sucked though, its not my nature any more than yours.

[/quote]

You can’t be this obtuse.

Do you really think your “nature” would be what it is today if your mom had had terrible prenatal care (or a drinking problem at conception), you were malnourished as a child due to poverty or lack of education, and you had spent your youth being physically and / or psychologically abused by a father who was treated the same way himself?

You have no idea what your “nature” would be under other, less favorable circumstances from the time of your conception.

You really need to open your eyes, son.
[/quote]

Yes, he can be that obtuse. All homeless people are drug addicts.

97

[quote]Chushin wrote:

Do you really think your “nature” would be what it is today if your mom had had terrible prenatal care (or a drinking problem at conception), you were malnourished as a child due to poverty or lack of education, and you had spent your youth being physically and / or psychologically abused by a father who was treated the same way himself? [/quote]

“Fault” for the condition of being a bat-shit crazy bum is not the issue. Most bums are not from poor families. Most bums are mentally disabled — crazy.

Sometime around the 1970’s the Warre Supreme Court decided that it was cruel to force crazy people to take their medicine and live in various kinds of assisted living — from dorms to sanitariums.

Now, a fair amount of the sanitariums were horrid places, but most were not, and all of them are probably better than wandering the streets.

THIS is the primaru cause of the problem. Not poverty. Not even drugs, although that has a huge impact.

+++++++++

Now, the questions is: what do to do with 3 crazy dudes, with nothing to lose, sitting on your doorstep?

We could wax on about how the situation is “not their fault.”

Well, that may be true. Probably is true, in fact.

But that’s no comfort when they beat you, rape you, and leave you for dead — because the voices in their heads told them to.

98

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:

[quote]Brother Chris wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:

[quote]HoustonGuy wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:

Not all of us had a silver spoon, HG

[/quote]

Funny, I’ve told him the exact same thing several times.[/quote]
Like it changes the OP scenario on bit.

Or detracts from my vision, effort, risk and success. There are people I grew up with who can’t or won’t do what I do even though they have the same general story.

What ifs are what they are but had I been born poor I do think I would’ve “come up”. It’s simply my nature. It’s not like MBA programs are easy, especially not top tier programs. Neither is entrepreneurship. Drugs are rampant in the 'burbs. I use them. But I’m not hiding from life with them, key mental difference.

Sexual abuse happens every where, divorce, alcoholism…

A “silver spoon” equals growing up in a comfortable house. I went to public school, had a job, made the effort to get in to college et cetera. It’s not like I’m a Hilton with a trust fund. Just grew up in a house with a pool instead of a bungalow.

The “silver spoon” bullshit is not only irrelevant to the OP but grossly mis-applied to my own success. If it makes one feel better to discredit my effort and the balls only an entrepreneur could understand though, so be it.[/quote]

First of all, I’m not taking ANYTHING away from what you did to become successful. I know all too well the sacrifices and hard work that an entrepreneur has to make to be successful. In fact if I recall correctly, you were on the verge of bankruptcy and had given it your all and were about to shut down when you got the contract that breathed life into your business and you fucking did it. RESPECT for that, bro.

BUT, and you knew there was a but, you learned what you did by by getting an MBA at a top university. MOST of the people attending your school were upper middle class white folks, yes? You’re being VERY disingenuous by really believing that just because we’re in America ANYONE can do ANYTHING regardless of their background. It SOUNDS good, but look at the REALITY. People almost NEVER overcome their poverty and upbringing, and I fucking KNOW what it takes to do it, because I’ve done it. It’s fucking HARD, bro. Damn near impossible. I literally had to rewire my whole brain and thought process to be able to evolve to the point where I could over come MY particular set of circumstance. And even THEN all it took was a change in gov’t regulation, a few bad business decisions (I wouldn’t CHANGE the decisions, but they didn’t help my business) and a shitty economy to put me back to working with my tools.

(for those of you who are new and don’t know me, here’s the quick and dirty summary: I was born on Greenmount and 33rd in Baltimore City, My mother’s first four husbands beat the shit out of me until I left home at 16, started selling drugs, switched to pulling armed robberies, didn’t graduate HS, got caught when I was 18, got out of prison when I was 22, became a carpenter, then an electrician, when I was 32 I got into the mortgage business and became very successful, started, incubated and sold a bunch of small businesses including a very successful renewable energy company and marketing company, got my ass handed to me in a divorce, lost a bunch of money in the market, paid over a hundred thousand for the last few years of my grandmother’s nursing home and the coup de gras happened last year due to a change in regulation - had to stop doing mortgage altogether because of my felony conviction which is now 19 years old. Now I work as a rig electrician and still have a 50% stake in my marketing company, which my partner and I really just use as a write off for taxes. After the rise and fall of my “entrepreneurial run” I figure I have a net worth of about 300K including my properties. Which isn’t FANTASTIC, but it’s not bad for a felon without a HS diploma) But I digress.

Not everyone can do that. You get your panties in a wad because you perceive that people don’t respect the work you did and the sacrifices you made to get where you’re at. You played the hand you were dealt almost perfectly. But you were dealt pocket aces, bro. Don’t pretend for a minute that you weren’t. Yeah, you struggled for a few years after college - no doubt. You worked 18 hour days and risked everything. For a few years. I’ve been fighting my whole fucking LIFE to get where I’m at and my net worth is still probably only 20% of yours (or less - you tell me) and I’ve got ten years on you… You see the difference?

And I’m in NO WAY trying to toot my own horn here - I’m using myself as an example of the EXCEPTION. And frankly, I honestly don’t know how the fuck I got so lucky to be where I am. I was a straight up asshole street thug from Baltimore back when we were the murder capital of the US… The only plausible explanation that I can come up with is that shortly after I got out, I contracted viral meningitis, spent three months in a coma and almost died. I woke up with sporadic memory loss and an unexplained increase in mathematical ability. My hypothesis is that the virus probably killed a bunch of brain cells, and some of the cells contained my negative thought patterns and habits. My brain was LITERALLY rewired by an illness. Combine that with an EXTRAORDINARY amount of LUCK and I was able to break free from the “gravity” of my upbringing and subsequent incarceration. And when I say luck, I mean I’m the luckiest muther fucker you ever met. Seriously, a cat ain’t got SHIT on me - I should have been dead over a hundred times. Instead, I happen to bump into, befriend and become business partners with one of the top financial guru’s in Deutsche Bank! And I made (and lost LOL) a small fortune marketing his brain…

My journey up and down the totem pole of success was pretty extraordinary. You simply can’t expect just “anyone” coming from a poor background to escape all the BULLSHIT that goes along with being poor. It RARELY happens.[/quote]

You obviously didn’t try hard enough. Because being rich just takes hard work, right? ;)[/quote]

No. He just didn’t have any bootstraps.

:wink:
[/quote]

I once tried to pull myself up by the bootstraps. I just ended up rolling onto my back. Still don’t get it.

99

[quote]Brother Chris wrote:

I once tried to pull myself up by the bootstraps. I just ended up rolling onto my back. Still don’t get it.[/quote]

You just have to keep trying until you get it.

100

[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:

Why is something local better? Why not a well known and established charity that helps people all over the world like CARE or Doctors Without Borders? No matter how bad things seem for the homeless and underprivileged in America, things are much worse for people in other parts of the world. I have spoken to homeless people in America before and many of them eat more in a day then I did growing up in the Soviet Union, and there are many people all over the world worse off then I was.[/quote]

Nothing wrong with Doctors Without Borders.

Local is nice because you can actually get to know people in your community, and haul your kids over when possible. Case in point. A friend of mine and her husband own a chain of hair salons. She can easily write a check. She volunteered with an organization that delivered groceries to an adult woman with Down’s Syndrome and her elderly mom who couldn’t drive. She got to know them, and started cutting their hair. She noticed that the elderly woman couldn’t clip her own toenails so she’d do it for her. This kind sort of kindness can’t happen unless people get personally involved.

I had a similar experience where a single mom in my area needed childcare for her three-year-old while she finished her degree taking night classes. It was no big deal for me to watch her son a couple of nights a week for a semester. That was five years ago, and we still keep in touch. Getting involved with real people can be better than writing a check.