Solidarity

Coffee with or without sugar?

as known as

Morning with or without a little solidarity?

You want to know what solidarity means to me? I’ll give you the answer.

Solidarity plays a huge role in my everyday life. I come from a family of four members, with completely different personalities. We have to be solidary to be able to function as a family. I go to a secondary grammar school and I have thirty six classmates there. We have to be solidary in order to function as a convergent community. I live in Hungary. Hungarians can be super complicated. We complain a lot, we tend to netter a lot; so we have to be solidary to be able to function as a somewhat converging association. Solidarity is the key of living.

I’m not going to lie and say that I have never suffered from the lack of solidarity, though. I have always had a rocky relationship with my father. After my parents’ divorce, I always felt like I had to be two entirely different persons to please them both. This situation caused arguments and fights especially with my dad, almost every weekend. I felt like I was super solidary towards him the entire time, but he refused to show any kind of respect. Later on, this problem developed into much bigger ones. I was depressed and was dealing with an eating disorder. All because of the miss of understanding and solidarity. It’s crazy, right? Our relationship ended six years ago, after a huge fight caused by miscommunication and the non-existent solidarity we had. On top of that, my sister was not solidary either. She always took my dad’s side. So trust me: I know how important solidarity can be.

This story from my past, brings us to my present. Exactly because I know so well how important it is to be understanding, supportive and caring, I try to be the best version of myself to help others. If there is one thing I’ve learned is that you can never know what’s going on in other people’s lives, and sometimes a smile of solidarity can be the best thing to happen in one’s day. Just think about this for a second: would it be hard to drink your morning coffee with no sugar in it, if you knew that your co-worker, who is on a diet, is having a rough morning, and that’s the only way you both can have your coffee? I don’t think so.

So please, put your selfishness away.

Be kind. Be solidary. Always.