All of a sudden, one realises that there is no longer any pride in being an Icelander.

 All of a sudden, one realises that there is no longer any pride in being an Icelander.

Somehow, there is more embarrassment than pride for existing.

At least I have my memories. When I think back to the years when I was growing up, 1950-1960... I grew up in a blue-collar neighbourhood. My father was a hard-working plumber and was quite successful in his field.
I went to school not far away and all the children were in the same class; the prime minister's son, the cleaning lady's daughter... we all had the same opportunity to succeed in life as we all acquired the same level of education and good healthcare.
"I also want to add that back then, wages were very equally distributed between classes... no extremes."
All the children played together in the street, boys and girls together. No one knew what prejudice was, we did not worry about anything. We were practically innocent.

I was not very old when I started going to the store for my mother. Probably not much older than 6 years old. I got to know the owners of the stores. All were run by families. Everyone was involved with the day-to-day running of the store, regardless of the business; the fish market, grocery store etc.
These businesses had been run for decades, started by people who worked their fingers to the bones to feed their own families and the intention was that the business was to belong to the family forever.
Time whent by and I had my own dreams of starting my own business, as so many Icelanders.

Life was normal but still, around 1999 I sensed that something was going wrong... I can't explain what it was but alarm bells were going off in my head from time to time. Now I know what it was that I was sensing. Iceland is now the most endebted country in the world and will be for the next 10-20 years, even if things will go well.

"And I am ashamed to be an Icelander."

Icerock