Rich and penniless. Nelonen Media
Two households switch roles for a week. An economy classified as wealthy goes to live in a low-income home and vice versa. That is what it is and wonder about.
Participants in the program live on each other’s budgets throughout the exchange week. Here, however, I focus on talking about families instead of single or childless couples.
Budget refers to a program when you look at a virtually mundane amount of money to spend on food, transportation, and possible hobbies.
The amount does not cover clothes, jewelry, cosmetics and other wellness items brought from home.
The poor can’t afford them anyway.
After much deliberation, I simply cannot understand the concept of that program. No matter how it is explained to me, it highlights the inequality of Finnish households, I disagree.
The program is built around high-income families. They have to park their car and eat a box of pasta for a week, after which they return to their homes with a sigh of relief.
Even the beds are always pretty bad for those “poor” and that too made me think about how expensive even healthy sleeping is.
In the midst of a shocking discipline for the rich, opening ah-so-eyes to them, the needy family enjoys life to the fullest: they dine with tears at a meal worth many for everyday lunch. Get a chance to buy a new pillow. Treat aches, pains and ailments.
The still life, I think, creates a remarkable debt of gratitude insult, looking at the pity from the top down.
I can’t believe the program has been made disgraceful, so I suspect its spot light is accidentally glowing on the wrong podium.
I cannot speak for the people who took part in the program, but I dare say that it will not change anything in the world.
So there is a problem in society that will not be solved by giving a few thousand euros on television to a few thousand euros to spend on shopping and food.
Often, the background of the program is also difficult socio-economic problems, as well as changing life situations and crises, such as abandonment of working life due to illness, illness of one’s own parents or children. In many cases, the bottom of the sugar is also a foreclosure.
On top of all this, a poor person can easily have difficulty paying for affordable housing, bills and their potential illnesses. Jokes are scarce when there are children or pets on the side of the household, for example.
Each of us sometimes wants to go to the movies, a restaurant, buy new clothes, or something that will delight and promote our own well-being. Unfortunately, not everyone simply has the opportunity to do so.
It is not always really a question of whether a person has chosen to be poor. It is not unequivocal to call for better schools on the grounds that they are free in our country. And there is no unequivocal urge to go to work if one is unable to do so.
Parents of low-income families may not have the opportunity to offer their child hobbies and experiences similar to those of their peers.
This theme, too, has been revolved several times during each of the Rich and Moneyless seasons I have watched.
Child family poverty reminds me of the tail of the whole chain of thought and the idea that binds it together.
My late grandfather, who worked as a news photographer, always told me about the most impressive moment of his career:
The filming gig took him to the Helsinki Forum during the Christmas recession. Among the people, a little girl and her mother were selected for the interview.
The bright-headed child told the news cameras about his wish list for Christmas presents. It was long, like all the kids.
My grandfather told me about the despair that had spilled over that mother’s face as the girl spoke. It was hard to forget.
– After all, that woman could not afford it, my grandfather, who had traveled around the world for his work, said with tears in his eyes.
While this feels like a far-fetched confluence, I find similarity in the story to the Rich and the Penniless. After all, both are televised recordings of poverty.
One of these just happens to be a fantasy built to the delight of the rich and the other a real problem plaguing society. You can decide which one is which.