Friday 3 August 2007

Pic of the day: Who do they think we are, Santa Claus?

Beggars? No thanks!

Today during the lunch break I noticed a string of beggars. They were kind of conspicuous, since they were clearly all from the same foreign nation and were strung out along the main street in such a way that each of them was barely within sight of the next. They had cheap cups that they rattled, which is probably how you do it in their homeland. Here in Norway, you don't do it at all.

OK, that is not quite true. There is some begging here too, but it is mostly spontaneous, drunkards or drug abusers who have spent all their welfare money on their poison, and now wander around bothering people who don't seem too dangerous. I have read that in Oslo (our capital city) there are also some professional beggars who mingle with the others. But that would not work here in Kristiansand, because too many people know you. The city may be much too large for everyone to know everyone, but to know every beggar doesn't take much.

Norway is a European "welfare state". Contrary to American use of the word, this does not mean that most people are on welfare. The corresponding Norwegian word basically means wellbeing. It is kind of like when you say farewell to someone. You don't mean to say that they should mooch off the community, but that they should be well. In the same way, welfare is supposed to help people who otherwise would not be able to be well. While there may occasionally be a hole in the security net, this is very rare. Generally you can feel sure that people get their basic needs met. Therefore, there is no reason to beg on a regular schedule. We don't have a begging culture. If you want to beg, beg the welfare office, which will then give you what you absolutely need.

Clearly this is different in other parts of the world. And this is where the horrible irony comes in. These people are not from one of the neighboring nations (which are also welfare states). They come from pretty far off. In order to afford that, they are bound to be among the middle class by their own standards. This means that THEY should have been the ones giving money to beggars in their own country, where there is no welfare, where the poverty is real and where the taxes quite possibly go to someone's Swiss bank account.

Now you may rightly say that the middle-class life in Romania or Kerala or wherever these come from, is poverty compared to that of the average Norwegian. (And most Norwegian are indeed fairly average.) Yes, this is true, but then again we are dirt poor when compared to John Edwards or Nancy Pelosi. But you don't see us camping their driveway rattling our cups. We share with each other and get by that way. If you did the same, you would catch up with us soon enough.

So… is it fair that we should have more just because we happened to be born in a better place? Hmm, perhaps not. But certainly more fair than it would be to let people make a living from envy. (Except leftist politicians, of course.) Norwegians are among the most generous people on earth. But we prefer helping those who need it and not just those who are the most shameless.

In conclusion, please mail me if you know where I can buy a T-shirt with the text
YOUR ENVY
YOUR PROBLEM
because I've searched for it on Google and not found any.