It's just life on the carriage.

Well, tonight was quite a bit slower than last night and with the accompanying lower amount of action as well. Told a young, white woman that if she didn't stop trying to bum money from people right in front of my carriage that I would sic the proverbial dogs on her. My husband, Chris, has had to do the same thing to her, and others, and has told me how, many times  they say they weren't panhandling when you just saw them do it. It had never happened to me until this woman said that I could call whoever I wanted because I hadn't seen crap (she chose a different word). A couple of years ago, I had a talk with one of the police officers downtown and asked him why the aggressive panhandler problem downtown was so unattended to by the police. He made the point that we don't want to make it illegal to bum money because what if you, yourself, were caught with no money and just needed a dollar or two to get home?. It is not inconceivable that it could happen to just about anyone (my husband, of course, insisting it would never happen to him) but it could. If it were illegal to bum a dollar that would make for an inhospitable world.And finding yourself without a home for whatever reason is unfortunate but that doesn't mean it is my problem. But when an aggressively-panhandling homeless person inserts his or her objectives into the area in front of my carriage (or, as I told a guy one time that he wasn't to try to bum money in front of my carriage or in front of the carriage of "anyone I know"- not sure where that came from!), then we both have a problem.
We get between six and seven million people coming downtown every year- that makes for the perfect barrel to shoot into for fish for a "homeless person". They quit selling single beers to these guys (mostly a male population) a couple of years back and that had a huge effect. I can't tell you how many times I have driven through Beautiful Court Square Park with a family ride on a beautiful day and encountered four or five grown men with beers in their hands, clearly drunk, clearly homeless. It is just inappropriate considering the amount of time, money and effort that went into reinvigorating Downtown over the last twenty years. A lot of people have worked diligently and against all odds to bring life to an old, decrepit and, by all accounts, dead, Downtown. Homelessness is a serious problem, one deserving of sincere reflection. Part of the reason it is such a problem is not just the people without homes but also the community in which in occurs.There are so many shelters in Memphis, too, and an awful lot of charity. There is a church on every block, just about, in this city of a million people. But a homeless person Downtown gets breakfast, lunch and dinner for free and an entire wardrobe from head to toe, for free, every two weeks. Nice clothes, too, from a church.
 Sometimes I think that the seemingly professional panhandlers and I really are fishing from the same waters when it comes down to it. Tourists, Memphians, Downtowners- these are the people the homeless try to ply with their sad, made-up-half-the-time story to, the stories that inevitably end in "I'm just trying to get home." Yet, when these same people walk by my carriage, I call out for their business with a resounding,"Ya'll ready for a ride?" I want your money, too. But the big difference is that I am not lying to you. My personal story has some sad in it, too, but I'm not selling you my sad. I'm selling you an honest ride with a safe driver, a healthy horse and happy Chihuahuas. The people who bum money downtown are con artists. I am not. My saleswomanship is based in truth in advertising- what you see with my rig is what you get. When I tell you I know a lot of history Downtown it's because I do. Do I know all of the history of Downtown? No, I'm not even from Memphis. But apparently know enough that most local rides I get hear the history of some part of Downtown that they didn't know. I'm not lying or conning you. The "homeless" are. Besides cops, who else Downtown sees these people for a third of almost every day? Is it fair to say I study them? I have no choice- I see them all the time, the whole time I'm at work.
     But, God love em, I can't change other people. And a far off goal for me is serenity in dealing with other people's craziness, being in that peace that let's me function in society without letting it make me nuts. However, when you decide to create a financially competitive space in front of my carriage, well, then it's on. And I will win. Why? Because I work. Because I help feed America's need to spend, on whatever. And Mr./Mrs.  Panhandler doesn't. They just take, take, take. But not tonight. No one was going to take away from the rides I sold in front of my carriage because I told Miss Hang-out-at-Denny's-and-bother-every- customer-as-well-as-anyone-who-walks-by-on-the-sidewalk-for-money-money-money to go away and not come back. Sounds harsh but it's just life on the carriage.