Poor kid

[Offshore]

Which is pathetic? People who believe that someone on a long vacation who starts running out of money should use their remaining money to return home, get a job, provide for themselves, etc.? Or people who think panhandling to continue an extended hiking vacation is some sort of noble calling?

If someone wants to help the kid out, who is anyone here to disparage them for it? If you somehow find the panhandling to be a great moral affront, then don't give him money. Problem solved.

[hobbs]

No more like reality at times...There are some hikers that have very little plan and go ape #$% buying beer and other goodies and don't look at the overal picture..Reality hits and then some...

[4eyedbuzzard]

If someone wants to help the kid out, who is anyone here to disparage them for it? If you somehow find the panhandling to be a great moral affront, then don't give him money. Problem solved.

Because I have this silly notion that dependency is neither good for the individual nor for society in general. It's my noble calling Can you help by throwing a few dollars my way?

[BirdBrain]

For those that appease themselves by tossing a buck at a beggar and thus feel the better person, try taking them home instead. I have. I should say I have tried. There are some bad situations and needy people. Most don't want the food their sign says they want. Offer them a meal at your home. The vast majority will refuse you. Tell me. Are you really doing a good deed by tossing the buck? You are not a liberator. You are an enabler. Again, I have asked them into my home. It is an easy test to find out who wants help and who wants something else. As to to kid on vacation. Not a chance from me.

[Harrison Bergeron]

I saw a healthy 30-something man at the traffic light on the corner to the freeway entrance ramp today with a sign that said "hungry with three kids, please help" -- the same bum who's been working that corner for the past six months. Today some fool fell for it and called the bum across three lanes of traffic so he could dump his spare change into the bum's cup -- and 30 cars sat through the green light so that a fool could pat himself on the back for helping a bum get his next drink.

Every single American is born with a golden ticket that about 5 billion other souls on this planet would kill for. All it takes to avoid poverty in this country where wealth practically rains from the sky is to finish your free education, don't get knocked up before marriage, and run like hell anytime someone says: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help".

But yet every street corner in my town of 6 million people is staked out by a bum with a sob story on a sign who apparently used his golden ticket for toilet paper.

I don't know if that "kid" was really an AT hiker, but my response would be the same -- sneer and walk on by. The quicker that "kid" learns that begging is not a solution, the quicker he might someday figure out what the real solution is -- GET A JOB.

[Lone Wolf]

i'm going to Asheville tomorrow. i dread walkin' the streets there. seems every ten feet there's a 20 something with dreads bummin' $$

[Hikerhead]

Be quick and ask them for money first.

i'm going to Asheville tomorrow. i dread walkin' the streets there. seems every ten feet there's a 20 something with dreads bummin' $$

[Hikerhead]

Be quick and ask them for money first.

i'm going to Asheville tomorrow. i dread walkin' the streets there. seems every ten feet there's a 20 something with dreads bummin' $$

[Offshore]

Can I throw a few dollars buzzards way? I can but I won't. I don't think that his asking makes him an awful person, though. And that's the difference. I can say no, and I did. End of interaction - no lectures or diatribes required.

The preachy self-righteousness in this thread is a bit much. It sounds like the "get off my lawn!" crowd needs to get off the soapbox and out on a trail and figure out the root of all the anger and resentment.

[mtntopper]

Can I throw a few dollars buzzards way? I can but I won't. I don't think that his asking makes him an awful person, though. And that's the difference. I can say no, and I did. End of interaction - no lectures or diatribes required.

The preachy self-righteousness in this thread is a bit much. It sounds like the "get off my lawn!" crowd needs to get off the soapbox and out on a trail and figure out the root of all the anger and resentment.

What Offshore sais. +1

[Hangfire]

I had a ton of respect for the young people that I met on the trail who had very little money yet stayed away from towns, stayed away from the party groups and concentrated their efforts on putting up big miles and holding to a budget and finishing. If you're short on money you're not moving fast enough!

[lemon b]

Kids will be kids. We all learn lessons in life. Some are more difficult than others. Rather see youth learning on the trail instead of in the streets. Hope his experience brings positive results long term.

[Offshore]

Kids will be kids. We all learn lessons in life. Some are more difficult than others. Rather see youth learning on the trail instead of in the streets. Hope his experience brings positive results long term.

Going through the "dopey kid" stage is a part of growing up. For years, I volunteered with a student organization at a big university in NJ and had countless "what were they thinking?" moments with the parade of 18 - 22 year olds that came though each year. It really seemed that the ones that had the most "teachable moments" were the ones that went on to great jobs, medical school, or to become officers in all branches of the military. The ones that had the overprotective parents who insulated them from the world really seemed to have trouble functioning as well as the ones that were allowed to make mistakes. Hats off to the kids on the trail and the lessons they learn (and even the lessons we can learn from them).