I have been asked a favour by a friend to translate a piece of text from English to Swedish. Nothing big. "Of course" I said without hesitating. Said and done I translated it but I had to ask another friend about a word, mentioning that I was translating something for a friend. "So, how much do you get per word?" he asked. Nothing, I told him, surprised by the question. "Oh, solidarity work huh?" he said. What is wrong with people?! Since when do you charge somebody for a small favour? Of course one should be getting some kind of "pay" if you help someone that is expensive and/or requires a lot of work, but for small things? I am simply not used to that kind of thinking. Things usually gets "even" sooner or later anyway. When my friend asked for help I was only glad to be able to help! What's the big deal? "Solidarity work", hmm, as if I was doing something strange or unusal or even politcal. How the ... can helping a friend with a simple thing be considered "solidarity work"? Does every nice thing have to be about something greater? Can't people just be friendly with their friends?
Well, this guy is one of those people how I think might consider the word "solidarity" to be a strange and almost dirty word. I can add that this guy and I rarely agree on anything that has to do with things of value, but still. Is it strange to do someone a favour?
Guess that there are not many people scratching his back...
* Using the word "solidarity" instead of "voluntary" is to emphasize the meaning that he put into the word but also that he used that specific word in Swedish.
Solidarity = willing to help and support other people.
Voluntary = out of free will.
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