Jun 9, 2007 | To lose it all

On my way home from work today and riding on the uptown 6 line, some guy came on the carriage and, in typical beggar fashion, began his little spiel about being a part of a refuge/shelter society which caters to poor and homeless people and how we should spare a little of our change to support him and his association. What he then said has bothered me quite a bit. It went along the lines of this:

And count your blessings because some people can't afford the things you have. God forbid your home should burn down with everything inside, or you should lose your job... even a penny of your kindness will help

And then he went about with his little pretzel can of a box asking for donations. I guess, at least for me, I have never truly considered how disastrous it would be to lose absolutely everything (though ironically I did face it regularly as a firefighter), to go from living a life of relative comfort and wealth to one of nothing, to a life where everyone scorns you because they think you're some useless bum, to a life where losing everything is so much easier than gaining it all back. Sure, there's insurance to cover some bits, but there's always the possibility that insurance companies make the claim that some things aren't covered by their clauses. If one has friends in the area to provide the support there's at least something to recover, but that too is sometimes a luxury some can ill-afford.

Update: for others, there's friends and the Red Cross.

Also written on this day..

• 2011: Aerial video from Stanford's campus
• 2010: Install Android 2.2 Froyo on iPhone 3G on Windows with pics and video
• 2008: The Fourth Factor Authorization
• 2005: The Rationale Behind the Crêpe