Dear Editor:
I made a trip by car to Brampton recently. In the city, at almost every traffic light stop, I was accosted or observed an individual walking down the line of stopped cars with a hand out and a container to receive money from the drivers of the vehicles.
These beggars are a danger to the traffic and a danger to themselves. I believe the truly unfortunate need societal support, but when I consider these beggars in light of the social benefits now doled out to almost any claimant who says he or she has an inability to work, I am angry firstly because individuals receiving government money without warrant jeopardize the system for those truly in need and secondly, it is simple theft from me, the taxpayer.
As a licensed advocate who fought for benefits for declined claimants, I have become quite cynical in accepting that all those who declare “disability” are entitled to social support. Most of these people approaching cars for cash are fully capable of doing labour and earning his or her keep – that is apparent by the fact that they can walk back and forth for long periods of time, stand in one place for hours, speak to strangers without reserve and approach the public uninhibited.
However, we have become a society that enables laziness, entitlement and fraud. We have allowed claims for psychological injury such as PTSD, which is over- and mis-diagnosed and fraudulently presented, to justify allowing individuals to become lazy, unmotivated and entitled.
The best antidote to mental difficulties is to get busy – work and your mind will be taken off your troubles (you will also acquire a sense of pride in your accomplishments and validation as a contributing member of society).
The first step to curtailing this begging paradigm is for municipalities to put in place bylaws that make this type of activity illegal – for safety sake, and so that perhaps some of these beggars will get the message that there is no free ride.
The second step is to stop enabling those who wish to spend their days in an inebriated haze with free drugs and all attending conveniences unless they commit to rehabilitation.
And the third step is to revise all our benefit systems in a way that only those who are truly incapacitated and unable to perform any type of work are provided a benefit. Everyone else gets to work for his or her money. There should be shame in begging bucks from car to car: not tolerant antipathy from those subjected to this behaviour because there is no choice but to obey the traffic signs.
Joy Lippai,
Arthur