In Ireland it often seems that those performing tasks fall into three categories; first there are those who do work voluntarily, without pay or renumeration. Sometimes the nature of the work is voluntary; the people doing it feel that the rewards they personally receive, especially if they are helping others, are payment enough. Other tasks have traditionally been unpaid, especially in the home and associated with child-rearing. For other volunteers, their unpaid status is mandatory, because no money has been allocated to what they do, no matter how important and vital it is.
The second group includes people who are paid, but usually not enough. They have been hood-winked into believe that they should look upwards and try to emulate their betters by striving for marks of material respectability, such as a good house and a nice car. They have always been encouraged to look down on the first group. They are among the greatest victims of the current financial mess in the world.
And then there are the people at the top. They receive huge renumerations for whatever they claim they do. This is only just, they complain, because of the amount of knowledge and responsibility they shoulder, and what’s more they complain about having to pay tax. They adorn themselves with trashy and self-important titles and are generally not receptive to criticism or outside inspection. We are told they are “cleverer than the average bear booboo” and they are supremely gifted, but if they’re so bright why is it everywhere’s in such a mess? It’s these people, whether in the public or the private sector that our elected leaders listen to.
They look with contempt on the former groups, possibly because they realise that it is only through luck and favouritism that they have been snatchee from these lower levels, as it is only in their self-praise and that of their cowed sycophants that they are viewed as talented.
One of their few talents seems to be in wasting money. Those who are at the bottom layer of society are often treated to the indignity of being told that their poverty is due to their lack of budgeting skills. But when you have little, you tend to value what little you have and are wary of bad value. I remember, during my cider-drinking days, asking for a bottle of the substance in the bar of a 5-star hotel in Ireland. Being something of a connoisseur of cider I was disappointed to learn that the only brand they had was a very popular brand which I considered should not have been allowed to call itself cider. But then my disappointment turned to shock when I went to pay for it. The price sought was roughly ten times that which would have been asked in an average Irish pub. What is true of cider is true of so much else involving consumption: the price reflects the amount that the customer is viewed as being ready to pay.
Those who really are talented have to suffer in silence and grit their teeth, as they are spat upon and treated with derision. They are never allowed into the loop, and if they live in some out-of-the-way locality they are sidelined.
