A little rant about...

people. I've mentioned before that I don't get people sometimes. Mostly the things they do. Today Owen and I stopped at Target for some diapers. Sitting outside of Target to the right of the entrance on the bench and in camp chairs were two men and one woman. They had sleeping bags and heavy coats on. I gathered that they were pretending to be homeless. I gathered the pretend part because first, the camp chairs looked pretty new. Like just bought-at-Target new. They also did not have any other items with them besides the chairs and a few books to read and the sleeping bags. Oh, and one guys wife had just showed up with their daughter for a visit.
Now, I'm all for people doing these sorts of protests or sit-ins or sleep outs or whatever they are called. I get that. I've seen high school kids do this a lot. They are usually raising money for it too. I am for fighting homelessness and the causes of it. I am not for people pretending to be homeless by sitting around outside of Target in the middle of the day. They weren't raising money (no signs) they weren't distributing information or protesting. They were sitting around. Pretending to be homeless.
The reason this irritates me so much is because it's useless. They aren't doing anything helpful. I also don't think people who are homeless do that. Sit around in the middle of the day reading a book. From what I've read of accounts of people who are homeless they are usually working, looking for work, looking for food, shelter, clothing... the necessities... during the day. They are not sitting around outside of Target.
Usually I can give people the benefit of the doubt. But there are ways to go about social justice and there are ways that just aren't effective. Sitting around outside of Target in the middle of the day when it really isn't all that cold out, isn't one of them. I just don't get people sometimes.