Since the financial crisis started, we repetitively heard about the poverty in the first world countries. Very few really know what it means; many people oppose and compare the poverty to the one in the third world countries.
Yes, we are not talking about the same poverty like we know of in Africa, yes we not talking about the poverty in many parts of India, Romania or Russia. Yes, we can not compare our poverty level with the poverty of many countries in the world but does that make it better?We are talking about children going to bed hungry, we are talking about people living without heating system, we are talking about people that don’t have the money to buy shoes for themselves or their children, we are talking about old people that can not afford to hire someone to go shopping for them or feed them. We are talking about people that didn’t eat salad for a year or two because they can not afford it. We are not talking about people that can not afford their holidays in a foreign country; we are talking about a salad from the supermarket. We are also talking about children that don’t have their normal books for school because their parents don’t know how to raise that money.
Many out there will know what I am talking about. They most painful issue within these 2 past years of the financial or better moral crisis is the increasing amount of unemployed and homeless. The harzt4 system, that keeps you at least physically busy, the increasing desperation and the felt hopelessness. You don’t know how to deal with the “hole” that you fall into when you don’t know what to do with yourself, your thoughts and your emotions, which you didn’t have when you still had a job or work. Being without a job sounds only good as long as you have one, it sounds like leisure time and not needing to wake-up early every morning, it sounds like freedom until your first bill comes in. Then it sounds like execution, it sounds like existential fear and it sounds like: whom can I blame for my misery? The ones you can blame, the ones that started the financial crisis, the morally careless, the unethical, blame them and they will not hear you. Blame them and they will laugh at you. Blame them and they will twist your mind make it a political issue and blame the weakest in our society. They will twist your mind and make you vote for them, make you join the belief that the weak ones need to leave your country.
There is another way believe it or not. There are people that found this other way all back in their brains full of creativity, positivity and full of life! They are full of joy and they found a solution to their situation being unemployed, miserable, bored and full of fears. They found the valve for their anger and they found one that changes for the better, it opens eyes and gives hope. There is more than this example that I would like to mention but the one I picked I especially like it.
People in Germany, Switzerland and Austria opened stores for the poorest. These shops give food for free. People earning beneath a certain salary can go there and get food. This idea was created by a woman that is not in a financially difficult situation and many people followed her example. Many people bring food, clothes and other things like sanitary products there. Other ones opened their own shop like that.
What a brilliant idea and the owners of these shops as well as the employees can even live on it. They of course don’t lead luxury lives but they can make ends meet. There was a documentary on these shops that really highly impressed me. You should have seen the faces of the people; you should have seen the satisfaction in their eyes. You should have heard them talk. There was nothing like shame there was just happiness and gratefulness.
I think if we would all come up with something good, good in sense of kind or outstanding, first our time would pass faster, second we could be proud of what we did and third we could focus on something that makes a change on the long run.
I am in the lucky position to have a job and to earn my living but there is always something one can do to either help or to change for a better.
I might sound like an illusionist but these people creating the shops where you can get goods for free for sure were called illusionists too but look at them today.
They made it! Thanks for your way of looking at life! Thank all of you for your power! Let you guys be the beginning of a great movement!
Hırpıt
