The luxury of suffering

"I came here from Russia to Germany assuming all races are the same but now I hear that there is a fundamental difference between the black and the white people. I thought this sounded like racism until faced with facts of history and the now," commented one of my students last week.

"Is it true what we hear about the Holocaust? I mean it is so long ago, so unimaginable, cannot be fully understood, and some say it was not like that, people that seem very confident and convincing," another student of a lower level wanted to know.

"I know Africa. Before my time as MP and member of the Defense Committee of the German parliament, I was stationed as a soldier in Mali and Afghanistan. I saw terrible scenes but back in our camp, we had a great time. Peace, lots to eat, and the companionship of great comrades who thought just like I. Yes, I know Africa very well!"

Karl Marx wrote his Communist Manifesto while served with tea and biscuits by his mate he paid well from the money he got from his parents. His sparkling clean polished hands never touched anything else than a pen or typewriter, not steel nor coal, and no mud. His belly was well filled with the finest food and his clothes from the best garments. Money was not an issue for him. Liberating suffering workers from the exploitation of factory owners was on his mind while discussing the future of industrialized countries with Engels and Lenin. They had a good laugh when turning an agricultural society upside down.

To think and discuss ways to end poverty and suffering from the comfort of an armchair with a cozy cushion in the back avoiding first-hand and hands-on experience leads to miscalculation and missing the real solutions. People in power who make the ultimate decisions never get it right but satisfy themselves with having actions taken.