As someone who voluntarily left "Germany" four years ago, I am constantly in awe when I encounter people from other countries who think so highly of Germany as a place to live. And for all the wrong reasons really. They marvel at me with a look on their face: "You are from Germany, why do you want to live in Albania?!"
Here in Albania there is an almost creepy tendency to love Germany (which is something quite odd for Germans to come across). But if you are German, people will generally respond favorably to you. Part of it may be historic, which I will not get into here, but the other part of it is the sheer force and persistence of Western marketing. It has reached far and wide!
The modern propaganda efforts of the system never cease to amaze me and I can feel its effects here on the other end of "Europe", Albania, Greece, even Bulgaria. This advertisement the system airs is an image of a "rich and modern country" called "Germany". None of these labels are really accurate any longer but I know what people mean when they use them.
Yes! On the surface everything is freaking peachy in Germany isn't it?! There are just tons of money somehow, lots of of it, everywhere! Life is easier because of it, people really thrive! The population enjoys enjoys high standards of living! And a good medicine system! And so on and so forth.
Or so the locals here tell me. People who have never lived there.
The issue of course is that the majority of that fairytale is blatantly false, and incepted from the external over decades with a lot of effort. It is not a result of observation, nor experimentation, nor critical thinking. It is propaganda, the propaganda that many (if not most) Germans themselves believe unquestioningly. "We are such a rich country" blablabla. "We are a real democracy" bla. It's just word gymnastics but has zero to do with actuality.
Well, what is wealth then? Is it true that being paid wages in Germany is more profitable than in Albania? For sure! German wages are much higher. But what people seem to forget or never consider here is that recurring living expenses are way higher as well. Like, WAY!
If we could work a fiat-paying job in Germany and the agreement would stop at payday that would be great. But somehow we are then forced to spend the vast majority of our income for frivolous and dumb things, like stupidly high electricity and gas bills (that in themselves have been jacked up on purpose); things "the government" decides about and makes rules for which we have no say in.
So yes, you do earn a lot more money if you find a high paying job in Germany, but you also spend a lot more by having that life. You are also so much more busy and preoccupied with constant attempts on your livelihood by the same system you are feeding every day. It's paradoxical, but somehow disguised and difficult to see for people who never actually paid rent for their "home" ever.
You see, the other thing most people seem not to consider is that wealth comes in many forms. And having lots of Euros or Dollars in a system that is increasingly accelerating towards a brick wall... might not be the wealth people actually want.
What people in Albania, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece (also Italy) DO HAVE ALREADY is property! Lots and lots of property, meaning a house. Or rather: houses.
Yes what a concept! Property! People and families still own houses themselves here. And garden. Often times they own multiple as many of the family have gone to "richer places" like Germany. Lol. I guess it's just people who want the modern life and I won't blame them for their choice. But when I make clear to an Albanian or Greek that "Look, most people I know in Germany do not actually own a house. They rent. And the ones I know who do "own" a house technically still have to pay for it for 3 decades until it is "really" theirs." Then people look at me funny. And I can see them processing what that might mean for them.
What do you mean the rich Germans don't own anything?
Well it's true. Much like in "rich USA" and other advertised places of the 9-5 lifestyle in the West, most things people "own" are bought on borrowed money and therefore not property strictly speaking. The things are leased. And people pay interest on those deals - for a long time.
It's a plastic existence with a biting dog at your heels constantly.
Whereas here, people could just go to one of their family's old properties around the country and live there... for free. Think of crazy "corona" times, people had a place to go. Places where fruit trees have grown naturally for decades - (sometimes centuries), where even a garden might be taken care of regularly. True wealth. Tangible. Actual.
What of Germany? People were forced to stay inside their rental places with little opportunity to feed themselves. Because in modernity, food comes from the supermarket. *eyeroll
Mere packaging and propaganda, the legend of modern rich Germany continues.
Now that is the majority, I have also met a few who saw through the false image by sheer experience.
I remember a farmer we met in Bulgaria who had worked in Germany for a while, and a taxi driver from Albania who had worked in the UK. Both happy to talk to us and more ready to speak in a non-native tongue. And both readily agreed to what I mentioned above. "I make more money in Germany. But bad life! Work, supermarket, sleep! Work, supermarket, sleep! And food not good! And everything expensive! And I come back here!"
And I get that.
The slow mode of life here, the closeness to nature and the drastic reduction in "civilization noise" like advertisements and billboards are a treat for the soul. And anybody who has gone to Germany to earn a lot will know what I mean. It is an ideal that has little to do with actuality. I really wish it weren't so, but the system is the west is so utterly corrupt and rotten to the core that no shiny facade or packaging can make up for it.
I pray that a free life, decency and truth will return to all places in the West so that anyone who chooses it may live his full potential. Since the Western structures have lost most of these virtues in actuality, I feel Westerners are the real poor people on Earth. The people may still hold these virtues to be important but the system has long nullified them and is selling decay and deterioration with values as mere packaging. And people buy it. The crime is that THE PEOPLE all mean so well but are being lied to every day. We are being taken advantage of, but we just don't see it for what it is. And so the con continues.
I feel it will also show in terms of economics sooner or later. I have the utmost respect for anyone managing their increasingly costly lives in the West against all the extortion and government cruelty. I draw my hat! But for me that is no way to live. Not a frontline soldier I guess.
A golden heart will outweigh a million Euros with ease. And for me, that choice has long been made. Let's see if it was the right call ;)