Imaginary Coins
© RAIN by DELAFOI
Asking for charity is a job, just like any other. And instead of luring ourselves to believe we are contributing to change, we should treat it as part of the free market and buy their product regularly.
No?
The kind of help they are asking for, or at least the kind of help they have learned we are willing to pay for, is a business transaction. They are selling a story, and just as we're buying that lovely taste of takeaway coffee in the morning, we're buying into a sweet feeling of ease by dropping coins in a cup. And as you walk away, feeling that you now are a significant part in changing their sad story, they are already looking for the next client.
What you do in reality is tuning in to the system.
You do what's expected of you. For four or five seconds, you tell the world that you too care about others, that you want to be part of the solution, not the problem, that you think people matter, and that this all has to change.
Really? Those few coins that you, in reality, never have? That small contribution that always seems to be postponed? "I'm sorry. Maybe next time"?
It's a gift to yourself. Because you don't like changes, none of us do, and you're tuning in to the system to keep things as they are.
Deep down, you know that anything else than this would be implemented at your expense. Any other scenario would demand that you gave up something other than coins, and that's just not right. I mean, you've earned every cent and privilege you've got.
Right?
No. Our success, both cultural and personal, is built on the favelas, the caravans, the broken tents, and the sub-bridge shelters of those less fortunate. You’ve got a roof over your head because there are people still standing in the rain.
And to be clear, if you really wanted to share that roof, you wouldn't spread coins. You'd step aside.
“You’ve got a roof over your head because there are people still standing in the rain.”
So, the same old story and the same old conscience seek their inbuilt balance over and over again. It's a transaction in which both ask each other permission to exist just the way they are.
A few imaginary coins keep the lid on, anything else would tip the can over, and none of us is willing to pay that price.
