The Waiting Game: A Letter to the Debtor Government
The Waiting Game: A Letter to the Debtor Government
Hello, greetings to all. Today I bring you a very special letter that I wrote a few days ago. No, it is not one of love, nor one of resignation.
It's a much more exciting card than that. It is one that I wrote to the government that owes me money for 15 days.
Yes, I know, it might seem boring, but I assure you that it is not. In it, I express all my ingenuity, my creativity and my humor.
It is a letter that speaks of the importance of money, the desperation of waiting and forgiveness. It is a sequel to my concern expressed in this post: https://steemit.com/labour/@mercurysys/frustration-from-unpaid-work for this very matter.
So, without further ado, I present to you 'The Waiting Game: A Letter to the Debtor Government'.
Dear Debtor Government,
How are you? I hope you're not enjoying my money too much, because there isn't much to enjoy with the small amount you owe me.
Yes, I know, I told you that it would not be aggressive, but how to avoid it? I'm broke and can't even afford to buy a pack of gum. Not even the cheap gum from the supermarket!
Honestly, I can't help but think that you've gone to some beach in the Caribbean with my money and you're drinking margaritas while I'm here, at my house, eating Maruchan soups.
But don't worry, I'm not mad. I'm just a little disappointed, a little sad, a little angry, a little desperate... Ok, I'm very angry!
But not everything is bad. I have learned a lot during these last 15 days. For example, I have learned that I can survive on just one meal a day and that tap water is not as bad as I thought.
I have also learned that I can be very creative when it comes to finding ways to earn extra money.
For example, I'm thinking of opening a gum booth at the entrance of my building. What do you think, is it a good idea?
I know that you are a busy government, and that sometimes things are delayed. But, I can't help but feel a little abandoned.
Is it that you don't care about my well-being? Do you not care that I am biting my nails because of the anxiety of not knowing when I am going to receive my money? I always thought we were friends, but now I feel like you're the girlfriend who never calls after the first date.
Anyway, I don't want to be so dramatic. I just want you to know that money is very important to me.
In fact, it's so important that if I could, I'd keep it in a safe and sleep on top of it every night. But don't worry, I'm working on forgiving you.
I've already made a list of all the things I can do to forgive you, like imagining you in a leopard print bathing suit, or putting your name on my black list of friends.
Of course, I've also thought of all the things I could do to punish you for not paying me. For example, you could write a blog describing yourself as an evil villain who laughs at people who work hard.
Or I could tell my aunt, that she has psychic powers, to haunt your dreams until you pay up. But, I'm not going to do any of that. Instead, I will continue to patiently wait for you to pay me.
In closing, my dear Debtor Government, I just want you to know that I am waiting for you. I'm waiting for you to pay me, call me, text me, send me a smoke signal... whatever.
I just want you to know that money is important to me, but that I am also working on forgiving you. And if you don't pay me soon, I'm going to have to sell my soul to the devil. Do you have any phone number for Satan?
With much love (and a little bit of anger), Your friend in poverty.
Did you ... sent the letter? At least published it - not here, but somewhere where it can be read by the "responsible authorities"...?
Would something like that be dangerous? Would you get into more trouble? Are there more people (artists?) who rebel against the situation...?
No, of course I have not sent the letter, it is more of a complaint in the form of "humor", and yes, we have let you know, in fact, many bards and poems have appeared criticizing him at the poetry congress. But they turn a blind eye, and meanwhile, we are starving.
We do not represent problems for these politicians, rather they consider other types of things to be a threat, such as youth movements or people who attack their investments (negotiations), but one, the common bard, is just a microbe for them.
Most of those who work for them are unhappy (the artists), but we have to continue resisting the situation, because we depend on them, it is a very difficult situation, if you take into account that most of us have to "survive" with an income of $40 dollars a month, to pay for everything, and the cost of the basic basket is around $600 a month. And how do we do with only $40 a month? Many of us have to work 18 hours a day at various jobs and things we don't like, we don't have a social life, we're just zombies with no purpose for this life. That's the harsh reality my friend, I'm sorry you found out so abruptly.
Thank you for your openness!
I am aware of many such realities. But it's something else to hear it directly from someone who doesn't write about it in newspapers or has vaguely heard about it. And what upsets me the most is that there is no place for it in our press, in our media! We are preoccupied with our problems of prosperity - and we think we are poor...
There are many people in the world who are trying to get through difficult times of need. For example, in my case, I have been eating only rice for more than 2 years. I managed to eat some chicken (I hadn't tried it in 3 years) because a good friend shared some with me when she came to visit me.
The reason is that we cannot buy this type of food because it is too expensive for us and if we buy a chicken, for example, a kilogram costs $4, that is, a 3-kilogram chicken, which is their average size, costs us $12, which is already a quarter of our monthly income. And 1 chicken is consumed in 3 or 4 days (and that's measuring small and miserable portions), and the rest of the $28 we have left is used to pay for services, in my case $12 online (which is what allows me to create content here and generate some income, which although it's not much, helps me pay bills) and to have something to support me.And the rest I spend buying rice, paying the rent for the place where I live (this home is our own, but since it is a building we must pay rent for all the services that the building uses, such as electricity, water, garbage collection, cleaning, etc.), and there the $40 dollars disappear, and generally more money is needed to be able to pay for some extra repair, such as elevator maintenance, etc. It is very hard.
The press doesn't care about the problems of the third world, unless they could get a good slice of profit, there I bet my head that they would get deeply involved to get to the bottom of this reality.
Many of us dream of the utopia of going to live in Berlin, Vienna, Istanbul, places where life takes on another meaning, but we are locked up in these republics with a banana culture.