What's going on in Greece right now brings to my mind the middle age.
It's all a terrible mess of financial politics and economics and banks and international interests and whatnot that a regular citizen like me just cannot fathom. But, I can fathom the anxiety and fear of normal people who lose their jobs, or are not getting paid (like the workers of the TV company Alter) or whose pensions are being lowered again. How are these poor people going to pay their bills and their food?
Who is responsible for this huge mess? The people? The politicians? Multinational banks? I have no idea, so I don't know the answer. But it reminds me of the fairy tales I love so much, and of history.
In the middle age the Black Death, the Thirty Years' War and other wars and a bad summer for the crop would just wipe out people like ants. In one of those awful plagues in the 14th century Europe lost possibly 60 percent of its population, just like that, wham! That's a lot of people! In those times everyone lived with Death very close by. I guess it wasn't as shocking as it is today. Kids died of malnourishment and disease all the time. And a simple infection could end up in the grave. Then there were wars that drove people away from their homes and in no time, they were marching a somber march to the Realms of the Dark Lady.
We can't even imagine what it must have been like to live such an insecure life: a time when life wasn't worth much in Europe. Incredible! Or can we?
What's going to happen to these families in Greece? Are they going to starve? Are they going to be driven away from their homes because they can't pay their loans or their rent? Do the decision makers even care?
I have a feeling, which might be wrong and please correct me if I'm wrong, that these big fish sitting comfortably on their worldly thrones of material power lack empathy. I have a feeling that they are so blinded and bewitched by their wealth and influence that they are becoming less and less human with every sunset and sunrise that they experiment (if they ever even pay attention to such a banal and unattractive thing as a sunset or a sunrise). Do they understand what their little important games are causing to millions of normal people?
I just cannot conceive how this world functions. Call me innocent. Call me a sucker. I don't care. I just cannot comprehend why the rulers of the world are so greedy that they will do just anything and step on any one in order to get their rain of dollar and euro bills fall on them non-stop. Gross! Why do they want so much? Isn't enough enough?
I just feel awfully sorry for those Kostas and Akrivis and Doras who are terrified of what's going to happen to them and their kids. One lady was about to jump out of the window in her despair. She has two kids. How is she going to give them food and a home when she loses her job? But Mr. Big Fish doesn't give a damn, does he?
Well, the world is certainly a dark place. This is going on in Europe. I won't even think about other continents at the moment. And it is not the middle age, but there is something similar. Maybe history is repeating itself.