CW: This post is pessimistic and a bit cynical.
[Skip this if you don't want to know abt my personal struggles]
I'll get to the point and maybe burn this bridge.
My husband lost most of its income (he's a university teacher, we're in Brazil and several universities are operating with the minimum). We desperately need some support to make it to the end of the month, 10 USD can help us with groceries for the week, bc of inflation, you can help us here: https://ko-fi.com/rangelda
[ End of plea]
“Pope Francis' message to the unemployed: “Where there is no work, there is no dignity.”
The full quote follows: “This suffering is caused by unemployment and leads you – forgive me to use such strong words but I speak the truth – to feel that your life lacks dignity. Where there is no work, there is no dignity.”
While I understand that he might be referring to 'work' in the broad sense of 'transforming' reality, I'm not that naive to think that this is the interpretation of the majority of people that will read this article, so the editing and cuts on his statement point to the old industrial principle that your self-worth is define by what you can produce. As someone who lived her childhood with a sister that had a terminal disease, and hence depended upon my mother for every basic need, I ask you, how are we so quick to determine that one's self-worth, humanity and dignity, comes from our ability to produce value?
I've seen statements from teens last year, about how they didn't want to pay taxes so the elder and the disabled had the minimum for their needs. Because if someone doesn't contribute to profit, it doesn't 'deserve' to live.
We might be defined, as humans, by our ability to create, to give meaning, to learn, but capitalism and the infinite profit mentality have stripped us from our capacity to find meaning in creation by itself. We can only think of creativity and time in terms of 'how can I make the most of it so I don't starve to death and have a roof over my head.'
Pope Francis talks about hope, but I think that we need just a bit more fighting….