My city is full of shit. Like, literally. Thousands of rubbish bags have decided to comfortably take a nap in the streets. Well, more accurately, 2400 tonnes of trash, and the numbers are going up. I have always said that Granada is a very beautiful and charming town, but right now, it is probably the worst looking place in Spain. The thing is, all the "proffesionals of public sanitation" (aka steet sweepers) who work fot the company "Inagra" are on strike. They earn 1200 euros a month and work 35 hours a week, when most of the people with a similar job (like a builder) get paid less than a 1000 euros and work at least 40 hours since the crisis begun. Poor them...
However, if the cleaners of Granada are already privileged workers, their bosses are even more priviledged. They earn more than the very same president of Spain! Can you believe it? All the citizens of Granada are suffering the consecuences of a town that looks like a pigsty because some rich men do not want to do without their expensive Mercedes.
But the same happens in most of the countries, not only in the private sector but also in the public one: If the directives have debts to pay, they just get rid of the bonus of the civil servants or employees and... taraa! Problem solved! Sometimes these moneygrabbers even raise their own salary in this terrible time of crisis. Long live corruption and selfishness! How far is the man willing to go in order to gain more and more power and wealth? Do they not care if other people can't buy their kids a present for Christmas, or if they can't even feed them because of their greed? Power definitely blinds the mind: it always has.
So, I'll go buy a mask and a pesticide or else I won't be able to go to high school on Monday...
Today, I have spent hours looking up on Google whether the iPhone 5 is better than the Sony Xperia Z or vice versa. I've also looked for Google Glass and other high-technology stuff. I was stunned by all the things the human is capable to invent to make our lives "easier". But, on the other hand, I didn't go to the gym because I was doing that. I could have also done my homework instead.
This has made me think, and I have realized not only how much time we spend looking at a screen doing useless things, but also how modern society's "spirit" affects us: It seems like the greatness of being a human has been reduced to being simply a consumer. Is having the best phone really that important? Is that actually going to make us happier? Or is modern society missing the point of our short life in earth? Sure, technology is useful, but too much of it can consume us. Same happens with expensive clothes brands. We think we'll be cooler if we have an Avercrombie T-shirt than if we have an H&M one. And why is that? Because that's what these mega companies that control the world tell us to think. And we obey them, like 5 year old children. We compete, trying to see who has the most delicious candy.
But as the Beatles said: "All you need is love". It doesn't say "All you need is an iPhone", or does it? Maybe if Apple paid millions of dollars to Paul McCartney, he might changed the lyrics. Because, after all, we all succumb to the apparent awesomeness of expensive stuff. But that's what it is, just stuff. So think it twice the next time you dream with having something you can't afford, and think of what you have instead: family? friends? love, perhaps? These are the people who actually make you happy. And unless you want to spend the rest of your life having a relationship with Siri, try to care more about these people. You won't regret it.
