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The Ones Who Are Left Behind

from Two Sides Of The Same Coin by Active Minds

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about

This song came about as a result of a tour we made to Russia in 2012. Although I’d never been to the Russia during the days of the Soviet empire, it was clear that there had been profound economic changes since that time. The opulence of Russia’s new oligarchs is legendary, and there were visible signs of wealth that we saw on our trip - particularly in the major cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
But once you moved away from the major centres, you didn’t have to look very hard to see the poverty of those who had been excluded from any sort of economic progress. Particularly as we moved eastwards, away from the glamour of the major cities, we would see many older people who were clearly struggling to live with any sort of dignity. Their working days having been restricted to an age in which there were very few material comforts to be bought, they now appeared to have been abandoned to sink or swim in a rapidly changing world.
As we drove along country roads, we’d see old men lined up by the roadside trying to sell a few apples or mushrooms that they’d picked. In provincial town centres, there’d be women with a few old bits of bric-a-brac on the pavement in front of them - hoping that somebody might be interested. I wondered what their lives had been like when they were younger - how secure they may have felt in the economy they grew up in, and whether or not they’d ever have dreamt that they’d be reduced to virtually begging like this in their old age.
There have been massive economic and technological upheavals throughout the world in the last 50 years. Many of these changes have brought significant improvements to lives of many millions of people. But there are also dangers of some people falling through the cracks if they aren’t able to keep pace with the changes.
We shouldn’t think that poverty like this always happens somewhere else far away - there are always plenty of examples closer to home. Macroeconomic modelling rarely shows the effects of general economic and technical progress on the most vulnerable people - those who are left behind and forgotten about - and if we open our eyes we will see them in every neighbourhood.

lyrics

Who is the old woman who sits in the street
Trying to sell bits of junk just to make her ends meet?
Who is the old woman who sits under the trees
Trying to make some sense of the world that she sees?

It’s a very different place to the one where she grew up.
The world around her has changed so much –
She’s out of sight and she’s out of touch.

Who is the old man on the road by the woods
Trying to raise some cash from his pitiful goods?
Who is the old man sitting all alone,
With a table offering a handful of food that he’s grown?

It’s a very different place to the one where he grew up.
He’s not equipped for these new ways –
Condemned to poverty in his final days.

Do you remember the old woman? Now where has she gone –
The one who couldn’t keep up when the world had moved on?
Do you remember the old man who once sat in this place?
Has anyone missed him since he’s gone without trace?

It’s a very different place to the one where they grew up,
And the new world is not so kind
To the ones who are left behind.

credits

from Two Sides Of The Same Coin, released May 1, 2020

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Active Minds Scarborough, UK

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