A fable might help you understand Occupy Wall Street

I enjoyed Ursula K. Le Guin's “Ninety - Nine Weeks ; A Fairy Tale,“ [ http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2011/11/21/ninety-nine-weeks-a-fairy-tale ] because it visualizes the government and the people. The fairies are the government. The rich ogres are the Wall Street, and the fox is the voice of the movement.

The way I interpret this fable was that the fairies need to stop listening to the rich ogres. The government helps you for a certain amount of time, and then that’s it. And that’s where John Woodcutter messed up. He relied to much on the government instead of actually using it for a while and then getting a job.

One sentence that stood out for me was: “You are officially discouraged, you have officially ceased to look actively for work, and you are officially invisible to the Gift Fairies." What she means is, he has been on unemployment for so long that he can’t get it anymore. His kids tried to go the fairy to get the help, but to the fairy, they are invisible. Since they have never been employed they can’t sign up for employment.

Another sentence that stood out for me was: “Everything that’s wrong with this country is the fairies fault.” This means, the people relied so much on the government that when they take it away they complain to the government who’s just doing their job.

The last sentence that stood out for me was: “My opinion is, they do a better job at being fairies if they listened to the other ninety nine percent.” The fox said this because they government just does what they think is helpful. But in reality, they would be a bigger help if they actually listened to our problems and helped us in the way we're supposed to be helped. The government doesn’t see or think, so how can they fix our problems?

I'm glad Ursula K. Le Guin wrote this. I hope to read another fable like this. Making government problems sound like fables helped me understand why Occupy Wall Street took action.