But somebody else didn't. As I said in that older post, our waiting for him at the intersection seemed kind, but it really wasn't:
Thus did we teach young Charlie by our kindesses, charity, and patience that the usual laws of physics did not apply to him, and that the world was a lovely place where human beings in large vehicles stopped and waited patiently for small squirrels putzing around in the dead center of four way intersections. Charlie is either an example of all that is wrong with the welfare state or a cute, furry recipient of the Darwin Awards.
As Timotheus said in the comments, we enabled the squirrel's self destructive behavior.
But at least we didn't feed and even lure him to his self destruction by leaving piles of corn in the middle of the road, and it seems to me that this what the misplaced and cruel compassion of the city of San Francisco is doing to a human 'Charlie;'
Walters, who was decked out in a red, long-sleeve Spider-Man shirt, isn't homeless or broke. The 41-year-old happily shared his story with me. He sat up, pushed his blond bangs off his face, and blinked his striking blue eyes until his surroundings came into focus.
"I do get caught for drinking out here every day," he said affably. "I wish I had another beer right now."
He said he gets $953 a month in Supplemental Security Income for disabled and aged citizens and pays $650 a month for a hotel room in the Tenderloin under the city's Care Not Cash program.
With free meals available from local charities, that leaves $300 a month for booze.
The city spent 150,000 dollars on him last year alone. Pin It
