T-shirts with an English text on are in fashion these days, here in Spain. These texts range from absolute cliché (“Live your dreams”) over slightly funny (“I´d rather be in Malibu”) to downright absurd (“Get OFF my CAR and LET me GO.” What the…?).
Two days ago I saw a man rummaging through the garbage, looking for material to sell or reuse, which is very common here. To be honest, I´ve become quite used to the sight of people going through the garbage containers. This man was wearing a T-shirt with the word STRUGGLE printed on it. And as soon as I read those 8 letters, my perception changed. Suddenly I got a glimpse of what life must be like when in the morning instead of taking the metro to a clean office, you hop on to your old, shabby bike and spend the day with your arms up to the elbows in other people´s waste. “Struggle” was probably a fitting word for that man´s situation.
And I wondered how we would look at people if the words on their clothes gave a glimpse of their lives.
The immigrant whose T-shirt would read “I´d rather be in Ecuador”. Or the woman with the black eye wearing a shirt saying “Get OUT of my HOUSE or LET me GO.”
This post inspires empathy. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Plato, “Always be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle.”
Yes, that´s a very good quote. I used to tell kids in my class with a tendency to bullying: “You don´t know how hard the other´s life is, and you have no right to make it even harder.”
Gaat recht naar mijn hart, Kathleen.
De kracht van één enkel woord! Dat is ons terrein he Christine 🙂