I DO NOT WISH TO SIT AT THIS TABLE!

(2002)

by
Harald Wozniewski

Translated by
Frances Kronenwett &
Harald Wozniewski, Karlsruhe

Month after month and year after year, everybody in Germany meets at a huge banquet table. There is coffee and cake!  There is a place for everyone at this table and all the people are looking forward to celebrating together.  Everyone is excited at the thought of what they will get - coffee and cake!

Each person receives coffee - as a reward for the work they have performed over the past time. However not everyone receives the same amount of coffee. The reason for this is that this is a very special banquet table.  Whoever is able to sell his work or service at a high price receives a lot of coffee. On the other hand, the person who is only able to offer his work or service at a cheap price does not get so much coffee.  Yes, you've guessed it! The person who has nothing to offer gets no coffee at all. Never mind, it's not the end of the world, many guests are thinking, whilst looking enviously into the full cups of others.  There is still cake to come!

That is correct. Cake is there for everyone.  It is big enough for each person to have a slice. Oh, don't start celebrating too soon!  Cake is only for those who are fortunate enough to have wealth and properties which can be lent out to others in exchange for money. Only those who rent out houses, flats, plots of land and other such things are entitled to have a slice of cake - also those who lend money or who achieve capital gains from their own business.  Now, most of the guests are looking confused.  They have no wealth at all and nothing that they could lend out in the hope of making a profit. Their plates remain empty. Many of the guests at the banquet table have just received a tiny crumb of cake. I thought there was enough for everyone here?

Cast a glance behind you at the other end of the table.  There are some guests sitting behind mountains of cake which they have just received.

No, this is more than indecent.  I do not wish to sit at this table. I demand from the host that everyone gets at least one slice of cake and a second or more slices, but only when enough cake is left over.

I wonder when he is listening to me?

Leser seit 11.7.2003: