Questions better than the answers - a Norwegian storysaver's story after a meeting in Greece
Very dear Dr. Panagiotis Panagopoulos! I am well back in the land of snow. :) My stay in Greece was like a dream...
Thank you for the advice of the orange! I will make a 1-orange-marmelade. The olive oil you gave me i wonderful too. Will you greet Yvonne so much - and forward me the pictures you get from Thanos? I will send you some of mine in the weekend. Greet Yvonne so much!
Here my “homework” - do you have any comments on our dialogue?
I enjoyed your questions so much, that I thought of writing about them for a Norwegian newspaper. The title:
QUESTIONS BETTER THAN THE ANSWERS - stuck in crisis meets one of the "richest"
A. How you feel when you Norwegians are in a way somehow “admired”, having nowadays the world’s highest standard of living? How a very wealthy Norwegian would respond to the same question and how would a less wealthy Norwegian react?
I don't feel there is a reason to admire someone very rich! In the case of Norway I can tell you that we are more and more questioning the fact that our government pumps up oil without any restrictions. Doing that, we consume all our resources now, without sharing with generations after us. Drilling in arctic regions exposes nature and especially fish resources to great ecological risk. And we don't even use all the petroleum money to keep schools and health care in a good shape... In my city of Bergen, MOST of the schools have severe problems with bad indoor climate, humidity and worn down toilets, giving scholars severe health problems. It is a big shame. Our politicians agree not to use more than 4% of the oil revenue on investments inside the country. In consequence most of the oil wealth is used for financial speculation abroad, through the Norwegian Pension Fund. We invest in nuclear arms and real estate in London and Paris instead of building an up to date train system replacing millions of flights, just to mention one example. Another source for Norwegian wealth is that we are among the worlds ten main weapon exporters in value per capita. I am sad to tell you, that a nation once being a great example for sharing - a social democracy with relatively small difference between rich and poor, now has become a very materialistic society with huge private wealth and decline in the common sector. Still, I think the participation of more than 74% of all women working outside their homes is a very important factor for our life standard and for equal rights . (Greece only 43% of women in paid work)
A very rich Norwegian would probably say that our taxes are too high. But most Norwegians are aware that we are lucky to have a system with progressive income tax at an average of 33%. Without taxes no schools, no hospitals, no roads or theatre!
B. You told me that Norwegians have a comportment alike spoiled teenagers. What did you mean exactly?
We are new-riches! We buy cars, cottages in the mountains and by the seaside. We change furniture every 5th year and fly on vacation abroad 2 or even 3 times a year. But we don't think of our children and grand children, what kind of world we leave to them. I wish we would buy less things and rather take the time and energy to learn an instrument, sing, dance, paint and philosophy! What do you think happens in a society where young man of 23, 24 years start working in oil companies earning 120.000€ a year, after 3 years of engineer studies, more than their parents ever have earned... There are a lot of works they never will want to do again, as farming, repairing cloth or mending broken things...
C. What do you think of an abrupt economic development rate e.g. of more than 2%? Anyway more that what an average status of a certain society can absorb without having severe repercussions. What was the average rate of economic development the recent 20 years in your country?
Only cancer has exponential growth. In Norway dwellings get more and more expensive. Now you need rich parents to be able to buy a small flat! We get more and more rich, but at the same time we have high tolls of suicide - more than people dying in traffic (Norway 24 pr 100.000, Greece 7) . It is more and more difficult to "fit in". The result is many people dropping out of jobs and education.
Since 1970 the Norwegian Brutto National Product has increased by 20 times, a big part of that due to the general price-increase. The effective growth rate was ca. 180%, in other words an average growth of 3%/ year. In an European context is the Norwegian BNP 84% over the European average, taking differences of prices into account.
D. What do you think of economic growth when nearly all basic needs of a given social stratification have been satisfied (fulfilled)? Could in such a case be promoted instead of material goods production, production of spiritual goods, such as philosophy, music, theatre, quality cinema, painting, competitions of architectural modelling etc. non material goods?
We all know that we don't get more happy with more things, a even newer mobile phone, computer or car. Still most of us don't step back to reflect over the human need for a spiritual life. We have a huge problem with drug addicts. If you walk through a Norwegian town on Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, you will see hordes of completely drunk people. You would be shocked.
E. Could in such a case be promoted instead of material goods production, production of spiritual goods, such as philosophy, music, theatre, quality cinema, painting, competitions of architectural modelling etc. non material goods?
What a wonderfully perspective! I guess that most parents hope that their children find a safe, well paid job. Philosophy, art and culture usually don't pay off economically BUT in life quality. Personally I am happy to show my children that you can do VERY well without a car, a big flat and expensive furniture and cloth - all goods seen as normal by most Norwegians. Less consumption allows you to work less, join actively in cultural life and voluntary work for peace, environment and democracy. I am proud and happy that my adolescent children see the true value of culture's spice to social life and are committed to voluntary culture-work.
F. How do you confront much more leisure time in connection with extra information and therefore more workable function of democracy? (Ancient Greeks had slaves who were mainly occupied in order to satisfy the basic needs, while “free citizens” produced what we all know : “politics, philosophy, poetry etc.”. Now instead of slaves we ‘ve got machinery and automatisation that can produce more than 10 times as much). Is not it rather stupid to produce instead of spiritual goods, useless goods, or goods of inferior utility and or conspicuous consumption?
"Someone content to go to heaven alone, will never go to heaven". In the worlds richest country, Norway, we live in a bubble. Everybody knows it will burst. Maybe you knew that too, in Greece, before the crisis? In the course of five wonderful days with an international group of 'Grundtvig-lifelong learning'-workers, we met the most wonderful people in Aigios, Greece. We learned that the economical crisis is a desperate situation, especially for young people not finding work. We hear about the sad situation that lots of young people leave the country to find a better situation abroad. But we also heard that economical difficulties make families go back to their original home places in villages and enhances family ties. Like in Iceland, economical collapse results in more solidarity and makes you more aware and proud of your own culture.
Common music, songs and dance are the real culture and, opposite to money, the origin of real life quality. Oupa! (meaning cheer up and dance in greek). Thank you again for the wonderful lesson, Greece!
Susanne Urban, architect, primus motor of the car sharing-initiative Bergen, member of the board of Womens International League for peace and Freedom- Bergen- Norway, co-responsable for The Worlds Smallest Literature House. Member of the Norwegian StorySavers group, Grundtvig learning partnership.
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