The degree to which us, generally loud and outspoken Spaniards, fail to comply with the very American ‘put your money where your mouth is' coherence-demand-turned-accusation never ceases to surprise me.
In fact, for starters, there is not even a good translation for the phrase in Spanish.
We bitch and complain at ease, but we normally are not that good at reaching into our pockets when push comes to shove and money is required to support an idea or a project aligned with the things we speak out for.
We see it daily with crowdfunding projects that do not get the requested minimum funding, for instance.
Yes, salaries and incomes are low and have been hit pretty badly over these last few years. And yes, too, many promoters of some of these unsuccessful projects have made rookie mistakes. But is this enough for a full acquittal or are we talking about mere mitigating circumstances? I side with the latter.
I feel that every citizen --and particularly those of us lucky enough to be able to afford it through accumulated career savings-- has a clear moral responsibility to direct material resources towards changing those things around us that we dislike and we are vocal about.
Seriously, how long can the perpetual victimism last if one ducks for cover every time someone knocks at our virtual, digital door asking for help? There comes a point in life when everyone should clearly choose. As the English put it: 'Cough up or shut up'.
As a final note, this site, which connects with an old idea I had honed for some time in the past, can help anyone walk the walk overcoming any deep-rooted local cultural barrier: FuturaMarkets (found via @fderbaix).
Is not a prediction, in fact, possibly the best precursor of a committed desire for change?
