Well, since someone in another thread pointed me to this one, I guess I'll put my 2 cents in here... (please remember, I did just acknowledge that my opinion is probably worth about 2 cents ;> )
Snapping a picture of a homeless person who is receiving government funded meal while taking a picture of the first lady using his $500 Black Berry cell phone $$$$ Priceless
It would be VERY interesting to get the true facts of what this picture actually portrays. I can tell you from personal experience, that is,
the experience of someone who has actually lived in a homeless shelter, there are plenty of people in that system that make it a way of life. So, yes, he may indeed be a mooch off "the system". However, there are also those of us who used it for exactly what we needed it for that the time: A "hand up" out of a hard time instead of a "hand out" into a way of life. Having been there myself, I actually can offer at least a couple of plausible explanations for why this gentleman has a $500 blackberry in a homeless shelter. But, first, I have lots of questions.
[*] Out of respect for the warning that's been given, I won't spell out this particular possibility because it toes ever-so-lightly on the boundary of politics.
[*] Is there some evidence that this is indeed HIS blackberry?
[*] Is there some evidence that he is a homeless person "receiving a meal". I don't see anyone in this photo handing him a meal. Maybe he just took that position to get a good shot.
As far as alternative explanations, here are two, right of the top of my head:
[*] It is a fact that it is not uncommon for "do-gooders" to show up at homeless shelters and offer people free calls from cell phones in order to help them connect with loved one who are "long distance" from the shelter's phone or perhaps to connect with possible "long distance" opportunities to get back on their feet. They actually show up with notebooks where the person the phone is "loaned to" writes down their name and the number they are calling so that the "do-gooder" can write off the expense as a charity. Maybe this man is one of those "do-gooders". Maybe he's just someone who was using the phone of one of these "do-gooders" and said "Hey, man, while I have your phone, I'm going to take a picture of Michelle Obama."
[*] We don't know the circumstances of this man's homelessness. Did anyone here ever see the movie "Pursuit of Happiness"? If you hadn't actually seen the movie and you had actually known what the piece of equipment Will Smith's character was hauling around was, would you have been inclined to say, "How can a man who could afford piece of equipment worth thousands of dollars stand in line at a shelter asking for a handout of a bed and food?" The fact is he had that piece of equipment before he got homeless. If this is his phone, maybe he got it before he got homeless. Maybe there is no service on the phone. I don't think that would keep him from taking a picture with it. Maybe there is service on the phone but it's going to run out in a month because he just got homeless. Maybe he's been homeless for months but he lives in a state where blood banks will pay for a donation and he's going to the blood bank on a regular basis to pay for the service so he can use it to continue to look for a job and increase his odds of actually getting one because he has a means of receiving contact from potential employers. There really are boocoo possibilities, here.
Oh, and lest I sound a bit soap-boxy and over-righteous here, regardless of what the actual circumstances really are, the OP's take on it was certainly funny.
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