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The Homeless Guy On The Liffey Quays

This week on The Larb, after a 2 week imposed hiatus, I return to reflect on the homeless guy I saw this week begging in traffic on the Liffey Quays in Dublin. I’m asking myself, is it appropriate for me to be opinionated with regard to his position in life?

Who or what makes me, or indeed you, qualified to make a call on what is right, wrong, good, bad, proper or not, regarding any person who lives on the streets?

How do you or I know if the life they live is not for a specific purpose?

Why do we have sympathy and even a few spare coins if we’re feeling generous, for some homeless people and not all homeless?

How to we decide who is worthy?

What makes us so certain about what should be done for the homeless, if indeed anything at all?

I feel we can discover a lot about ourselves through the lives of those who seem worse off than us. If, that is, we can stand back from our judgement of the situation, be that judgement negative or positive.

I watched a video, the audio for which I’ve included here from photographer Donal Maloney. And it seems to me, Martin Hart has given Donal Maloney and others, myself included, something important.

Full credits to the original creator in the article accompanying this podcast episode.

Links From The Show

Donal Maloney Photography
Donal Maloney on Facebook
Martin Hart Short Film
Martin on Vimeo

Notes From The Show

This encounter with the homeless bloke on the quays has made me think deeply on my own and the broader preconceptions we hold about homeless people.

In some cases we offer our pity and little else. In some cases we offer money, possibly for little other reason than to feel good about ourselves — A good enough reason in my opinion.

But I find that there is within us a deep conflict about worthiness when we choose to give to some and not to others.

Surely if someone is on the street begging for change and are obviously in a more challenging position to us then they deserve a couple of quid? Or maybe none of them do.

At least surely a hello or even a sandwich and a cup of coffee?

But I walk past them all the time, and so do you. In some cases we adopt a holier than thou attitude to people who are obviously socially deprived.

Maybe they don’t know what it means to engage with others in a respectful manner. Or maybe they will buy alcohol or drugs with the change they receive, but is that really any of our business?

I’ve been taking a look at this subject this week on The Daily Larb, recorded on Anchor and pushed out to Spreaker, iTunes and Google Play amongst other platforms

Here’s a couple episodes which include other’s opinions. Some of these people have been homeless and have seen it from both sides.

I think you’ll agree they are in a vastly better position of understanding on this subject.

• TDL036 The Homeless Bloke

• TDL037 More On The Homeless

The Daily Larb

I recorded those above short episodes which include content from others who called into the station, with Anchor. There I record segments of audio daily with my iPhone. I do it on the fly adding thoughts about my experiences during the day.

I also include episodes focused on business and marketing topics so be sure to subscribe below to get these short segments and additional content from callers.

The Daily Larb on iTunes, Spreaker and Anchor

Originally published at larrygmaguire.com on November 30, 2017.

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