Katee Smith's Blog
People. / 10.13.09, 10:08 PM
So… Saturday, we did this thing called Pauper’s Right of Passage, or PRoP. Basically, PRoP is a homeless simulation.
At the beginning of the day, we changed into borrowed clothes- things that are actually given away to people who need them. Then we split into pairs and headed downtown. I was paired with one of my teammates (Sarah). We started our day with a nap in the park. After a while, we decided to move to a street corner and try panhandling- but first, we dug through the trash to find a cup (we found a Planter’s cashew can. Quite exciting). Anyway. We chose a street corner and sat down. As expected, most people ignored us. A lot walked as far away from us as the sidewalk would allow, or sped up as they went by. One woman dropped 5 pennies in our cup- all the change she could find in her purse (she spent a LOT of time digging through)- then turned around and asked someone if they had money for us.
We ended up with $1.65… in about 2 hours. We ended up giving it away.
It was an interesting experience.
Probably not something most of you will ever try, but definitely interesting.
It’s dehumanizing, actually.
So I’d like to encourage you to treat people like people, and not just walk past and ignore them.
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