Angry

I should stop reading newspapers. At least, I should stop reading the letters that are printed in them. I am angry.

Not just irritated, actually angry. If I had the writer of the letter before me, I'd probably not punch them, but maybe spit them in the face. Let me explain.

When I was very little, I read a story. It has left a profound impact on me, and may, indeed, be a big reason why I still consider myself – at least in part – Christian. I think I found it in my grandmothers' old schoolbooks. It's about an ox. The ox begins every day by thanking God. He thanks God for the grass he eats, for the sun that rises, for the wind on his face. He's a goddamn ox, a castrated, miserable creature who spends all his time hauling around carts and will eventually end up in a soup. But he's grateful for his lot in life; he's grateful that he's alive. I took this story to heart. Being grateful to God, specifically, is perhaps not really important. But being grateful? Absolutely. Appreciating what you have is, to me, the absolutely most important aspect of being a decent human being.

Maybe I would think differently if I wasn't actually privileged. Which I am. I have more food than I could possibly eat. Assuming the welfare state of Sweden continues to exist in the way it does, I will probably never seriously starve. Now, I'm not morally perfect, I realize that. I don't donate money to charities. I don't contribute to society. I don't really even educate myself to become anything particularly helpful, like a teacher or a doctor. But at least, at the very least, I'm grateful for what I have. Which brings me to that letter.

I read it in the most recent student magazine, and it made me angrier than I have been in a very long time. These people, these wretched, wretched people, are actually delusional enough to believe that they, as students in the Swedish university system, deserve pity. They have the sheer arrogance to demand that they get something better. They are dissatisfied. Even worse, they are ungrateful. They are given an education, free of charge, and beneficial loans to give them an education. An education which, they claim, is no longer an advantage in modern society. Maybe so. Maybe it will do no good, and you'll end up owing the state money for the rest of your life. Money which the state will use to buy you medicine, to pay policemen, to keep you alive in case you lose your job.

Don't get me wrong – of course one can be miserable in a modern welfare society. One can be lost, depressed, lonely, confused. One can be homeless, yes, even starving. But this is not what they are complaining about. The people who wrote this letter believe that they are being exploited, and that they are somehow eating and living badly.

No.

No, you are not poor. You have a home. You have food. You can bleach your brains in alcohol every Friday and still have money left for peanuts to go with it. Society demands work and study from you so that you – and other citizens of our country – can continue to lead decent lives. This is not exploitation.

There are few things in life I can't tolerate in another person, but more than anything else, this is it. This is what makes me positively want to puke with revulsion. When other people make an effort for your sake, you do not complain. You can criticize, you can refuse the help, you can accept it but tell them how they might do it better – but you do not. Fucking. Complain. You thank them. I think this is something everyone should adhere to. You may not believe in a God, so you have nobody to thank for the sunshine and the grass, but what the hell, be thankful for it anyway. Appreciate it. When the zombie apocalypse comes, you may no longer be able to.