A parable about Greece:
By Robert Coutinho
There was a family, named Greece, that lived on a farm. The farm was close to other farms that were ruled by a kindly lord, name Euzo. Euzo had constructed some silos that were impervious to vermin (mice, rats, etc.) The way that the collective worked, was that whenever a farm harvested food, that food was put into the silo for safe keeping. At various important times the food would be distributed: for eating and for seeds to plant the next year of crops. So, the Greeks asked Euzo and their neighbors if they could belong to Euzo, instead of trying to go it alone. You see, the vermin were constantly stealing the Greeks food and the Greeks planting seed. Euzo and the farmers got together and discussed the situation.
The problem was that the Greeks owed some of their produce to some private people. They had thrown a party for their grandparents’ retirement, and had borrowed some sugar and other items in order to have the party. Now the people who lent the stuff wanted it paid back before the Greeks joined Euzo’s group of farms. The farmers and Euzo checked their surplus grain and such that was in the silos and paid off Greece’s debts. Now the Greeks would simply have to owe the collective.
Initially things went really well. The Greeks threw another party to celebrate their joining the Euzo group. They were so confident about the new situation that they forgot to check how much they were eating. You see, the farm of Greece could only produce 10500 calories a day. The Greeks were consuming about 12000 calories a day. When Euzo found out about this, he informed the Greeks that they would have to cut back! I mean, come on! When the Greeks entered the Euzo collective, they were supposed to pull their own weight—and pay back what they owed, as well!
Euzo and the other farmers got together and determined that the Greeks would need to pay back 1500 calories a day (in yearly installments). The family of Greece agreed to this, figuring that they would just have to stop gorging themselves and all would be fine. However, although the farm could produce 10500 calories a day, Greece needed 10000 calories a day in order to feed all the people on the farm.
Well, that was not the 1500 calories a day that Euzo and the other farmers had insisted on. So, just before the next planting season, they insisted that Greece had to cut back 1000 more calories. The Greeks were very upset by this. They had already cut back, and they were not sporting any particularly fatty members. The Portugal family suggested that the problem was that Greece allowed Grandma and Grandpa to retire too early.
Greece tried to point out that the farm, regardless of the number of workers, could still only produce 10500 calories a day! They asked if they could do some work on the side for the others in order to pay off the extra debt. The other farmers and Euzo were having none of that, though! All the land was already being worked. All of the extra jobs were being done. Some of their own children were finding it hard to find constructive things to do. It was up to Greece to find something that their children could do!
Greece had no choice but to agree to cut 1000 calories per day from their diet (now 9000 calories). Euzo had the keys to the silos and would not let them take more than that. The problem was that since Greece was now working with far less energy, the farm only produced 9750 calories a day. The next planting season, Euzo informed them that they needed to cut back on their gluttonous ways! He insisted that they cut at least 500 more calories from their diet.
The next year the farm only produced 9450 calories a day. In addition, the family of Greece was having major problems, as one might expect. Grandma and Grandpa were so weak from hunger that they could not even watch the younger ones to make sure they did not cause problems. The youngest Greeks were always complaining about being hungry. The two adolescents were so angry that they burned down one of their own barns! This caused the farm to be short even more calories per day! Meanwhile, planting time had come again—and Euzo and the other farmers threatened to withhold all of the food and seeds unless Greece promised to cut down on their intake of food yet again!
Keep in mind, the farm had been capable of producing 10500 calories a day—when it could be fully worked by fed workers. Now it was down to 9450 calories a day, the people of Greece, who needed 10000 calories in order to be comfortable, were now only consuming 8500 calories per day. Some of the meaner members of neighboring farms had even suggested that Greece should stop feeding the unproductive Grandma and Grandpa! The youngest Greeks were unproductive, and could not find any jobs they could do! They offered to join other families, just in order to be fed! The other farms refused outright! It was the fault of the Greeks that they had been so gluttonous in the first place. The only way to get it right was to eat less!
So, the entire family of Greece got together, and discussed the new demands. Grandma and Grandpa suggested that they take the offer, but the kids were adamantly against it. When the vote came in, the majority of Greeks rejected the starvation offer. Euzo was not pleased! Some of the other farmers—who had been looking forward to throwing some parties of their own when their loaned food got paid back were also very angry.
When the collective got together, they demanded even more of the Greeks. Not only would they have to cut back their food consumption (in order to be allowed this year’s seeds for crops), but they would have to allow one of their best fields to be worked (and harvested) by some of the people from the other farms! In addition, they would have to hire counters for when they harvested the crops—the collective no longer trusted the Greeks to put the entirety of their harvest in the silos. As it turns out, during several of the previous harvests some of the kids had eaten or hidden some of the crops so they could have something to eat.
So now the situation was that the family of Greece was to be put on a diet of 8000 calories a day. They had to give up some of their best land, sort of as a lease agreement, for others to work (including getting the credit for the harvest). They had to allow people outside of the family to count the harvest as it was collected. They would have to just trust that those counters would be accurate as to how much was harvested. Meanwhile, Euzo and the heads of the other farms keep insisting that if only the Greeks would stop being gluttons, all would be fine. If Greece refused the offer, they would get no food and no seeds for the new planting season.
Robert Coutinho is a disabled pharmaceutical chemist living in Massachusetts. He has been learning about life, the universe, and everything since he was born in 1963. He has had little else to do since his disability began in 1997. He has written a fictional novel, Their Last Best Hope, which is currently available at Tate Publishing, internet venues, and bookstores.