Hard Luck Normality

 

<Rant mode on>

One thing I hate, in a fairly benign hate kind of way, are those 'tear jerking' stories of somebody with a problem that was hidden away somewhere until somebody noticed and media of one sort or another picked up the story and ran with it and then suddenly everybody and their brother decided that it was very sad and something should be done and then there are crowdfunding crusades and even greater media coverage and suddenly the individual that was originally destitute, living off scraps, starving themselves so they could feed the kids and about to be evicted from their rented accommodation, suddenly, they have more money than they know what to do with, offers of accommodation a landlord that was not aware of their plight and now full of contrition and sorrow offers them a payment holiday on rent until they are in a better position, which suddenly they actually now are, and even offers of jobs and holidays for the kids etc etc.

How on earth could I possibly hate that, it is a story of warmth and human generosity. It is heart warming and a beacon of hope in an otherwise sad world brought low by a pandemic.

True, the response from the spotlight falling upon this one family, in this case a hypothetical family, is wonderful and we can read these stories on a weekly, maybe even daily basis. 

But what I hate is that it happens at all.

Not just that. But anyone would think this is an isolated occurrence. It's not. That's what I hate.

Such stories with happy endings are wonderful but are comparable with winning the lottery. This one family unit was lucky enough to be spotted, lucky enough the story resonated, lucky the media picked it up, lucky it hit the news lines at just the right time. And that family won.

The facts are, there are tens of thousands of families and individuals that are in this position right now. And I live in a first world, western democratic country with so much wealth it makes your head spin. But hidden from view are these stories. Only they are not stories, they are somebody's reality, daily reality.

That's what I hate.

I long for a day when there is a recognition that a civilized society needs to build from the ground up. Certainly a society where stories like this do not appear in the news. Not because they are filterred, censored and hidden but because there is nobody in society that badly left behind. Or at least, they are the rarity and not something almost normal.

I've said many a time. I am definitely not a communist and put the works of Marx, Engels and the Bible on the shelves were I keep other works of fiction but I am a good old fashioned market socialist. A free marketeer that believes in a fair distribution of wealth, it is not impossible, but I'll never see it in my lifetime.

<Rant mode off>

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