I bought a book without money, but not for free. In November I was in Portugal as a youth exchange participant in an international project. I found out about 1010 Ways to Buy Without Money initiative from a Spanish participant so I bought a book not with money, but with a challenge.
How did I choose the book? Every book had its “price”
written on a bookmark inside it. Therefore we had to take into consideration
not only the book’s title but also the “price” which, just like in case of
money, not everybody can afford it. For instance, “quit smoking” can only be
paid by a smoker. Or “learn how to swim” can only be paid by a person who
doesn’t know how to swim.
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| Price examples |
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| Price examples |
1010 Ways to Buy Without Money also helps us to reflect
about our consumption habits and makes us ask ourselves “do we really need
this?” before purchasing a product. This is why there is a purchase limit of
one product per person. And since all the books on sale are provided by
donations, 1010 Ways To Buy Without Money promotes the re-use of our resources
and encourage us to share those objects we do not use with someone that needs
them.
The main objective of this initiative - as Tony, one of the
project’s organisers, told us – is to share the culture and to receive
happiness instead, not money. He also raised some interesting questions -
"Why should we pay for culture?" and "What is more important: a
hug or a coin?".
The book that I choose is written in Spanish and describes
100 most beautiful places to go out by night in Barcelona. For it I paid with a
story and sharing it was a moment as beautiful as the audience.
