[joeblau]

There is one thing that I've really come to love and respect about the city of San Francisco. They fight for what they want. I've seen protests for everything ranging from wars, to working conditions, to America's Cup worker wages. Most other places would just get rolled over by whomever has the money. Underneath this issue, there are some serious socioeconomic issues at hand that need to be addressed.

One thing I've done to try and give back is during the holiday season, create some care packages and hand them out to the homeless. Put together basic stuff like dental floss, razors, deodorant, hard candy, socks, pop-corn, etc in a zip-lock bag. As I walked around the city and saw homeless people, I would give them a bag. It was about $400 bucks and about 4 hours of time between two people to make 20 bags. All you have to do is hand them out as you're doing your daily things around the city. You would be surprised at how eloquent, smart, and appreciative some of the people on the street actually are. If you live in San Francisco, you _know_ you're going to run into someone homeless on any given day.

That being said, I realize that I'm not the regular San Francisco transplant and most Engineers can't logically rationalize giving something away for free to someone who has done "nothing" for them.

[paul_f]

I love how you told everyone what a wonderful and caring person you are. And then slammed engineers. Well played.

Next time I'd advise telling your story and avoid the temptation to smear an entire profession.

[joeblau]

I'm also an Engineer and I'm not smearing the profession. Most of us don't want to work on something that doesn't make logical sense.

[wavefunction]

>>most Engineers can't logically rationalize giving something away for free to someone who has done "nothing" for them.

You're not the only engineer who feels this way. Thanks for your story and a great suggestion on how to help ourselves become better people through service to others.

Solving a technical problem gives me an ephemeral and fleeting feeling of elation, which I admit is nice. The positive feelings I get from assisting someone, however, persist throughout my lifetime.

[infinity0]

Ignore the haters commenting on this post, being all self-sensitive at you simply making an observation based on how you see things, and nit-picking on an incorrect use of the word "most". I'm an engineer and I'm not offended, and I can definitely see your point. A lot of highly-paid people don't see, or refuse to analyse, the surrounding consequences of their wealth, as well as their own actions.

[macspoofing]

I'm glad you're able to make yourself feel better (and superior at the same time - 'most Engineers can't logically rationalize giving something away for free to someone who has done "nothing" for them' ) for $400 and let everyone know it. Money well-spent.

[nirnira]

Nice. But if you think it's so worthwhile to help homeless people, why don't you help them full-time, instead of just dabbling? And if you're going to help them, are goodie bags really the best way, or can you think of more powerful, uplifting ways to help them improve their station in life? That's the economically rational course of action, after all - devote the maximum amount of your time to the activity you consider most valuable (whether to yourself or others - wherever your priorities lie), and try and be as effective in that activity as possible - otherwise you're just splitting your time, jack of all trades, master of none.

[joeblau]

I'm not spending my full time doing that because helping homeless people isn't my life passion. My life passion is to create technology that will impact the world for a greater good. That doesn't mean that along the way I can't do things to help others out who are less fortunate than I am along the way. I don't think taking a few hours every year to help others would qualify me as a jack of all trades. I spend far more time burnt on HN, DN, and running my OSS GitHub project, than I do helping. I just feel that if everyone helped a bit, we would probably be received better.

[nirnira]

I see what you're saying, and it's very reasonable - I'm not a San Franciscan so I can't comment on the tech community's engagement (or lack thereof) with SF's older cultures - including the homeless/streetkids. Perhaps there is a solution that everyone would like?