We went to explore a monthly antique market in the heart of Padova on Prato de la Valle on sunday. After an enjoyable hour of browsing books and Asian artifacts (many not antique but moldy) I decided to buy a lovely pair of silver earrings.

I haven’t spent anything on myself aside from food purchases for such a long time and I had really wanted to find a nice set of earrings while in Italy. SO I didn’t think too much when I was offered the items for €18.

A few hours later I had already concluded that in all likelihood the earrings were not silver, nor the stone real. But what really got to me was when some of the ‘silver’ paint chipped off and revealed a black base that looked like plastic. We investigated closer and the earrings are so exceptionally cheap that I feel at once idiotic for not having noticed it and in equal measures saddened by people being such liars.

They don’t know that I usually turn every penny around a few times before making even a necessary purchase, but they shouldn’t lie so hard. I feel so cheated and €18 is a lot of money to me so I really feel the betrayal of trust both viscerally and economically.

Then I think about he bigger picture surrounding this microcosm of cheating.. This business model is so prevalent in our world. Big companies, often successfully, try to sell us things that are not only useless to human health but outright damaging. Nestle, Monsanto, an whoever else is out there. If I start on this now then this post will become epic and that might be a little much.

But doesn’t it sadden you, too, when you are cheated and lied to by those in charge of providing you with truthful services and goods? In the face of all this that we can only describe as sincere and serious badness, how do you stay hopeful but not blind?