bears
there's a talking point that's popular in some circles about bears. specifically, don't feed the bears. it's bad for the bears. it's bad for people. the bears are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. yada yada. and don't feed the homeless/poor. for exactly the same reasons. oh wait. heh. okay don't get me wrong here. i think people should succeed or fail on their own merits. and if you choose to help others, good for you! just keep it to yourself. k?thxbye. on the gripping hand, should we feed the bears in the zoo? yosemite logic says no. but wait. these bears cannot take care of themselves. we must feed them. i don't know of anyone who thinks we should put bears in cages and charge people money to watch them starve to death. that'd be kinda sick. so... are the poor like bears in yosemite? or like bears in the zoo? good questions. neither really. they're people. they're not wild animals. in many cases they're perfectly capable of fending for themselves. we should not feed these people. in other cases, society has taken away their natural habitat. street vending is illegal. working is illegal without proper papers. try getting a permit to push an ice cream cart. ha! and the list goes on. if you have not, your options for bootstrapping yourself are pretty much non-existent. i invite you to try it before arguing otherwise.