Do something about it

You’re 26, living outside a city in Tunisia, and the foundation of your life has been uncertainty. High unemployment has forced many of your family members into desperate situations, so you’ve become the breadwinner. With the small resources your family can put together, you begin a small business as a vendor. Things go well for a while, but it only makes the people around you envious.

Municipal officers harass you daily. You’re just a measly kid in their eyes. Regularly, they confiscate your wares and kick over your cart. What are you going to do? They’re in charge; they are in the right, so you pick up your stuff and move down the street.

One day, the harassment comes to a breaking point. You bought a month’s worth of wares on credit. Officials stop by your cart. They claim you have no permit, but legally, no permit is needed. They take your scales and ruin your produce. Worst of all, they beat you up, spit in your face and call you worthless.

The government isn’t interested in helping you. You run out of options. You decide to make a statement.

Let’s say you’re a 24-year-old from Indiana, and as long as you can remember, times have been rough. Your family members try their best to enable a good life for you, but with their levels of education, good-paying jobs are unreachable. Mom and Dad say if you work hard and do well in school, you will be the breadwinner, and things will get better.

With student loans and the little savings your family can muster, you enroll in a university. You graduate with a bachelor’s degree. They say there’s a long hallway of opportunities in front of you, but you can’t find a job.

It’s been two years since you graduated, and you’re still working a dead-end job making minimum wage. This was not what you expected, and things seem to get worse and worse. The bank wants to garnish your wages. It repossesses your car and your computer. What are you going to do? They’re in charge; they are in the right, so you pick up what’s left and move back home with your parents.

One day, the harassment comes to a breaking point. The banks want to take you and your parents to court. They co-signed the loan and share liability.

While sitting in the lobby of the courthouse, you notice there’s a television broadcasting CNBC. The bank that’s suing you smugly celebrates record profits after receiving a government bailout a few years ago.

You scream at the TV, “Where is my bailout?”

You don’t get one, so you decide to do something about it.

­— nicjacob@indiana.edu