Golem

Nothing ever starts or ends anywhere abruptly, does it? All stories that start with: “It all started…” miss a point. Terribly. Their error has a common denominator – laziness. The author needs to start the story somehow, and this is a good opener. In reality, the actual story begins somewhere else, much, much farther back in time. Like this one…

Everyone is aware of the terrible plight Greece is going through at the moment. And of the fear, that developments there could cause the collapse of the system EU built in hope to create a superpower, big enough to be a financial force to be reckoned with. “United we are strong”, was the parole used to sell the new currency to the Europeans in 1999. There were many reasons why this was good for EU and its people. The most made sense, which is why we have it now. Travel was made easier by removing the need for exchanging money, and more importantly, the currency risks were removed from European trade. One more, the fact that in 1971, US President Richard Nixon removed the gold backing from the US$, causing a collapse in the Bretton Woods system that managed to affect all of the world's major currencies, is a scarecrow that not many Europeans know any more and add any value to. Euro was going to be a castle, a safety net, a money pool that would be used to unhook Europe from Dollar.

During our time in Vienna, we were invited to a party given by a young, aspiring lawyer. An in-clique, hard to get into. Lots of mingling, Prada uniform, important charity talks for ladies in murderously high heels with sleek hairdos and obligatory pearl colliers, gentlemen discussing politics. I, pregnant to the limit, dressed in comfortable flats and a kind of designer parachute, with a firm unpopular view there’s no such thing as real democracy in our system. With my lack of fashion sense, my unorthodox views have raised an eyebrow, no more. I took a parfait, shrugged and paled into insignificance. I thrive in my mediocrity, happy to occasionally be able to dispute with people who can do more that communicate in monosyllables. But this is a separate issue. The issue here is that like a lot of uneducated midwives in the Middle Ages, I still have a good feel for common sense. Not for fashionable and politically correct opinion that has nothing to do with here and now, but a sturdy, honest opinion no politician wants to hear. Occasionally I feel a strong sense of Dejavu, mingled with a quite, unspoken triumph of “I told you so”.

Like this time. Still wondering how is it possible that most politicians fail to see, what every housewife counting her housekeeping money notices. It’s no secret that most governments let their people know facts on “need to know” basis. At least since the Snowdon affair we know of manipulations on the government level, even if it’s only a tip of an iceberg, because a person like Snowdon, for all the hype, would never be privy to anything really important. A thought, which in itself allows us to get a glimpse of the magnitude. On a daily basis we get more news than necessary, but never the whole picture. Still one can think back and draw parallels, because history has a tendency to repeat itself.

Back in Vienna, during that party my mind was on the crisis in Russia. For obvious reasons. Friends of mine were standing in a line at the bank trying to draw their own money. We, a convenient mix of German, Australian and Russian heritage, stood straight for some people we knew and helped where we could. It was, of course, an illusion. Because a drop in the ocean. Two years ago, Crete. Now, we have a similar situation with our Greek friends. No, not in an autocratic Russia, but in fiercely democratic Europe, where such things should not have been possible, because of the safety net.

Then and now, people couldn’t believe that politicians, the very people whom they chose and pay to take care of their interests, play a game, the outcome of which is no longer the expected winning, but a bare survival. So what is happening?

Most of the answers one gets are cryptic; their deeds speak for themselves. During the election campaigns political goals are crystal-clear, well distinguishable trends, so you can tell one party from another. Power reached, and the honeymoon is over. Now they have to wear pajamas to bed like everyone else. Or sleep naked. But this would mean transparency, which is not an option. Instead, these clear-cut goals become nebulous, intertwine, and finally disappear till next election. One clear trend remains – their inability to reach this goal, and listen to the people. The very people, who helped them to power and who are the very core of our democratic society.

Would anyone explain to me why, when working on her family budget, every housewife knows, that simple math is the answer. Income –Expenditure = Savings. Expenditure < Income = Stability. Expenditure > Income = Poverty. If the latest equation persists for some time, the future is uncertain, because Central Bank is not interested in a financial stability of a housewife. So the most likely outcome is the following equation: Poverty + Debt = Misery. Why, with help of economists and a whole plethora of other clever people, most governments cannot make this out, is a mystery to me.

Furthermore, the creation of a common area, giving the opportunity to anyone to travel and settle down where they please, making use of the safety net of their social services, is something commendable, but expensive and potentially precarious from the point of view of compatibility. Remember the story of Golem, a giant made of clay, brought to life by the mind power of a rabbi, well -versed in the art of mysticism. Golem was big and strong, but unstable. It’s life span depended completely on the ability of the rabbi to keep it together using a net of complex meditation techniques. For all his strength, he lacked the agility of the human, whose vital organs are all part of the same complex body, held together by a system of many different parts, including the skin, tendons and nerves, but all containing the same DNA. Nothing in a healthy human body feels foreign, even if one or the other part fails to work. The problem of the EU Golem, is that it’s tendons hold parts of completely different, and sometimes mutually resisting DNA fragments.

My only question is: was this premeditated? Was this a tremendous experiment involving so many unsuspecting taxpayers, or was it an honest mistake? If it was a mistake, why won’t the responsible parties take their losses, and try to save what’s left? I guess the answer to this question is on a “need to know” basis.