Devious Diva .....

Today, I spent most of my day reading the articles on Devious Diva's blog...This is not my country. As a Greek, brought up in a "foreign country" I, as well as my family, have been at the mercy of many a racist attack, which thankfully, did not end up in any tragic way. Devious Diva's blog impressed me to the extent that I felt that I had to dedicate at least one post to the worthy causes that she has taken upon herself to bring to the forefront and make known. It is so easy to live within our own circles, and lead our lives ignoring what is going on around us. Admittedly, the Roma issue is of great importance, and as I have been reading about it over the past few weeks, it has surprised me that this issue has not yet been given the much needed publicity that it should. Now, my job does not allow me to have that much free time to watch TV or read the papers, but I do have time to read up on things over the Net. I have, though, been able to watch programmes which are supposed to raise the public's awareness of what is going on in and around their country, and racism is one subject I have yet to see being discussed. Obviously there are people who feel that they have the right to be racist. They feel that letting down the borders to their country has meant that their life has rigidly been changed. This may well be the case, but these same people hire immigrants to do the jobs they won't do. They offer jobs, food, and less than acceptable housing to people that they consider "unworthy". I live in an area which does not have half the problems that the major towns and cities have, but racism still exists, and is very much a part of our lives. I too have found myself walking past beggars, sometimes stopping to give money, other times just ignoring them. When I analyse myself, I tend to fall into many different dilemmas. The first is always whether or not I should be giving money to beggars. Maybe by trying to help , I am just aiding an industry which has come into existence over the past years. An industry which plays with people's lives, their humanity, an industry which has its roots set in everything, from sending young children to beg and steal, to actually smuggling people over borders to partake in illegal activities.

How can we really help people who really need our help, and how do we decide who these people are. Are they those who live in the rundown areas of every town? Are they those who sit on street corners with their babies and ask for money? Are they those who will do any work, as long as they get paid? To distinguish is impossible, but to close our eyes choosing not to see is inadmissible....Devious Diva..thank you for not allowing us to think that this problem will just go away....