The 'I just need a few dollars for gas to get to Louisiana' guy.
Jun 30, 2015 20:12:55 #
I pulled into a 7-11 to gas up after I got off work at 11:30 PM last night & met my new buddy (I just need a few dollars for gas to get to Louisiana to see my sick mom) Cedrick....
Jun 30, 2015 21:51:47 #
Jun 30, 2015 22:31:29 #
Fullframe wrote:
God Bless you for helping him out
My shop is near the largest city run homeless shelter and 3 other community - church run food bank - relief centers in east Dallas. You can imagine the size of the indigent population in the area. I empathise with them but am a natural cynic. I've heard the 'gas money story' too many times to count...... I treat everyone I meet on the streets with respect and I don't judge anyone based on their circumstance. A lot of these folks have led pretty hard lives and I try to capture that in my portraits.
Jul 1, 2015 08:42:05 #
Jul 1, 2015 10:07:50 #
ajohnston3 wrote:
I pulled into a 7-11 to gas up after I got off work at 11:30 PM last night & met my new buddy (I just need a few dollars for gas to get to Louisiana to see my sick mom) Cedrick....
Excellent investment :thumbup: :thumbup:
Jul 1, 2015 11:04:39 #
I admire you for your kindness and generosity. I'm sure you'll be rewarded for it someday, maybe in your Heart you already are. Do you honestly believe though that he needs gas money when he almost certainly don't even own a car?
Let's be perfectly clear here. Being a Man with an addictive personality myself, i can appreciate this man's 'problem'. However, if he is TRULY HONEST WITH HIMSELF and REALLY wants to help himself, he would find a way, WHATEVER it takes!
I'm willing to bet if you visit that same 7-11, he's still there or somewhere near by asking for "gas money", and if indeed his Mother is sick in Louisiana, she's probably going to die before he get's there, or probably already has long ago if he's as old as he looks in the photo.
Forgive me if i sound harsh, but I'm just being realistic, not cynical. On a lighter note, your photo is very good.
Let's be perfectly clear here. Being a Man with an addictive personality myself, i can appreciate this man's 'problem'. However, if he is TRULY HONEST WITH HIMSELF and REALLY wants to help himself, he would find a way, WHATEVER it takes!
I'm willing to bet if you visit that same 7-11, he's still there or somewhere near by asking for "gas money", and if indeed his Mother is sick in Louisiana, she's probably going to die before he get's there, or probably already has long ago if he's as old as he looks in the photo.
Forgive me if i sound harsh, but I'm just being realistic, not cynical. On a lighter note, your photo is very good.
Jul 1, 2015 12:10:14 #
Jul 1, 2015 16:12:10 #
For the last 5 or so years, we have had a guy who is always present at the bottom of a local off-ramp. He is usually holding a sign that says.
Viet-Nam Vet. Please Help. God Bless
Sometimes he is standing, sometimes sitting on a box.
Sometimes he has a cast on his leg, sometimes the cast is on the other leg.
Sometimes he is sitting in an old wheelchair.
Sometimes he talks to the wheelchair, sometimes he talks to an imaginary friend who is there with him.
His wife works the opposite off-ramp and their son works the next exit. They all live somewhere alongside the freeway.
Between them they make enough money to support their habit.
The local constabulary know them all on a first name basis.
Sad, but it is becoming Americana.
---------------------------------------------------
The photo is outstanding. You can see life, toil, hard times, joy and sorrow.
Can you imagine the stories he could tell under different circumstances.
Viet-Nam Vet. Please Help. God Bless
Sometimes he is standing, sometimes sitting on a box.
Sometimes he has a cast on his leg, sometimes the cast is on the other leg.
Sometimes he is sitting in an old wheelchair.
Sometimes he talks to the wheelchair, sometimes he talks to an imaginary friend who is there with him.
His wife works the opposite off-ramp and their son works the next exit. They all live somewhere alongside the freeway.
Between them they make enough money to support their habit.
The local constabulary know them all on a first name basis.
Sad, but it is becoming Americana.
---------------------------------------------------
The photo is outstanding. You can see life, toil, hard times, joy and sorrow.
Can you imagine the stories he could tell under different circumstances.
Jul 1, 2015 17:07:00 #
Tom Kelley wrote:
I admire you for your kindness and generosity. I'm sure you'll be rewarded for it someday, maybe in your Heart you already are. Do you honestly believe though that he needs gas money when he almost certainly don't even own a car?
~edit~
Forgive me if i sound harsh, but I'm just being realistic, not cynical. On a lighter note, your photo is very good.
~edit~
Forgive me if i sound harsh, but I'm just being realistic, not cynical. On a lighter note, your photo is very good.
Thanks - I'm shooting for 'enhanced realism' ... You are not being cynical, just realistic. Cedric may have needed 'alcohol' of some sort but probably not gas.... Guys like that always have a story designed to elicit an emotional response & ferret out a few bucks from the target. I've worked in this neighborhood for 30 years and have heard pretty much every tale of woe imaginable.
Jul 1, 2015 17:16:31 #
MT native wrote:
Such great detail.....NICE image !!
Thanks.... I pretty much have to shoot these 'on the fly' & at night.
Jul 1, 2015 17:21:20 #
greymule wrote:
Excellent investment :thumbup: :thumbup:
Thanks..... I hold no man above me nor below me. All I meet are due kindness, consideration & respect.
Jul 1, 2015 17:33:44 #
BBurns wrote:
For the last 5 or so years, we have had a guy who ... (show quote)
Sad but true..... There are a couple of locals that I have known for years. 'Scrappy' who always has his shopping cart piled high with metal scrap & 'Popeye' who bears a striking resemblance to a certain cartoon figure. :) Most are too transitory for me to get to know them very well.
Thanks for your comments about the photo. It's the exact reason I started taking these shots. Their lives are etched in their faces......
Jul 1, 2015 17:34:43 #
Jul 1, 2015 18:03:19 #
washy
Loc: Dorset UK
ajohnston3 wrote:
I pulled into a 7-11 to gas up after I got off work at 11:30 PM last night & met my new buddy (I just need a few dollars for gas to get to Louisiana to see my sick mom) Cedrick....
Some people "earn" their living, some are very clever some are just inept. I was on holiday in Morocco last year, I wanted to be a real leather wallet from a street vendor, he had no change, so he said see the old lady begging nearby for change, I did, you never saw such a huge wad of notes, that this beggar produced. She was scruffy very poor looking but seemed very wealthy, maybe the moral in the story is, most of us would be better off learning to be beggars than workers.
Jul 1, 2015 18:04:46 #
washy
Loc: Dorset UK
ooppss spelling mistake
Some people "earn" their living, some are very clever some are just inept. I was on holiday in Morocco last year, I wanted to buy a real leather wallet from a street vendor, he had no change, so he said see the old lady begging nearby for change, I did, you never saw such a huge wad of notes, that this beggar produced. She was scruffy very poor looking but seemed very wealthy, maybe the moral in the story is, most of us would be better off learning to be beggars than workers.
Some people "earn" their living, some are very clever some are just inept. I was on holiday in Morocco last year, I wanted to buy a real leather wallet from a street vendor, he had no change, so he said see the old lady begging nearby for change, I did, you never saw such a huge wad of notes, that this beggar produced. She was scruffy very poor looking but seemed very wealthy, maybe the moral in the story is, most of us would be better off learning to be beggars than workers.
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