Creativity can Overcome the Crisis.

_{A bag made with Bolivares notes by young people in Caracas city.}

Crisis Vs Attitude.

Crises occur anytime, anywhere, sometimes unpredictably. But they become appropriate moments to measure the ability to overcome them, and that depends a lot on the right attitude they face. I am not used to talking about the crisis that we are going through in the country because I believe that this content does not contribute much to the growth of the community. Make accounts of the unfortunate and sad events that occur every day, from my perspective, is not an appropriate content for reading, especially in a social network as Steemit where we have a tool precisely to overcome any crisis.

However, when I see moments that are characterized by the extraordinary actors and facts, can't sign them to share them in this ecosystem. These characters that one find out in the street with appropriate attitudes to deal with the crisis leave you "astounded", because they bring optimism and joy in the midst of desolation.

Monetary mysteries

The economy of current Venezuela is and will be worthy of analysis for a long time. Happen so many inexplicable things that I think that are a mystery, and as such, are impossible to understand. One of those mysteries is the value of paper money which is used to print the bolivars. This is first time this phenomenon: the banks have no cash to distribute to customers. Already in 1987 onwards it had disappeared the coins. Cash this time are missing. This apparent shortage is that many large-denomination cash cross borders into Colombia or Brazil to be redeemed or sold to the highest bidder. This is the second mystery.

The third mystery is that there are people who pay up to twice the price of the cash. I.e. If you want One million bolivars in cash, you must pay by bank transfer Two million bolivars. There are people who have cash in those quantities, and there are people who pay double for the quantities they need. There may be more mysteries but I am not going to continue with this theme. What I want to highlight today is that despite the crisis in the shortage of cash, people very, but very special, that they make use of their creativity to overcome the crisis that all affects us.

The cash as a commodity for handicrafts.

What I saw today in Caracas was the enthusiastic attitude of a group of young Venezuelans that use scarce cash to make an interesting craft. They make attractive bags with cash, literally. With a joyful spirit are sitting on one of the squares in the center of Caracas, by folding each of tickets in the way that can be stacked and sewing to make bag. They must only have cash, needle and thread to sew. And the truth is that the result is an art.

How many notes are needed on average to make a bag of these? 400 notes are required for this beautiful and arduous task. First, you have to bend the notes into rectangles to go putting together like pieces of a puzzle. Then they are armed, must be sewing them with needle and thread of cotton. It is not the work of a single person, it is a well coordinated team to build these true works of art.

The amount of cash that is used to make this bag is not significant in the market value of this product. For example, if 2 bolívares notes are used, the amount of 400 notes that value would total 800 bolívares. Of course, this bag is not worth that amount.

If we use a more value as the 100 bolívares note, the amount of 400 notes that value would be in total 40 thousand bolivars. Bag is not worth that amount. The current retail value is 400 thousand bolivares.

All of this means that this group of young people, making use of their talents and creativity give one real value greater than the devalued money of Venezuelans.

Creativity leads to create added value.

It is the propitious moment to develop creativity in these times of crisis in Venezuela. Living example of this effort are these young people. The result is that you learn to give added value to the raw material that is abundant in the country. It is a good starting point to achieve the transformation of the mentality of the new generations in this wonderful country. The fact that the young people are having this initiative gives great satisfaction.

I know that everything is incipient. But it is a start. A real fact. It indicates that there is hope for change. Today they are these simple but beautiful bags. Tomorrow they will be technological advances.