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The ultimate point here is that you just cannot get riled up when a homeless person approaches you- even if they get aggressive. If you are in imminent danger or are attacked, that is one thing- but otherwise you just gotta not worry about it.
At some times in life we all get short/nasty/agitated with people we can afford to treat like that. It is an ugly fact, but crap rolls downhill- whether it should or not.
I personally think that many people get so upset about homeless people invading their sense of social status because they cannot control the situation.
If a waiter or salesperson gets out of line, you can complain and remediate the situation- getting some kind of sense of personal justice in the process that validates your position in society.
But if a homeless person does that, who are you going to complain to? What hold or control do you have over that person? None!
Yet this also raises the question, why get so riled up about it in the first place?
Insecurity? Ego? A sense of entitlement to more insulation from the real world?
All of these things apply- and we are all guilty.
When I was in college at Georgia, a homeless man once asked me for money on the street one night and I ignored him. He asked me, "Can you spare some change?"
I stiffened up and walked on- agitated at being asked.
Another homeless guy sitting next to him said, as I walked by all puffed up, "Shit, he can't even spare a walk!" And he said it so perfectly- just picture Redd Foxx saying it back in his glory days as a standup comedian.
I have never forgotten that because it was a reminder that at some level we are all the same and we are all destined to live in a world in which we have no ability to fully ensure that life's events only approach us on the terms we want.
So I don't sweat it anymore. If anything, it is nice to be reminded that no matter where I get in the world- at a certain point I am no better than anyone else.
Maybe a bit overly philosophical, but that is how I see it. And I am grateful for the fact I am person in a position to make the choice to see it like that.
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