The meaning of the proverb "a well-fed hungry one does not understand": the basis of human misunderstanding and its examples

Let's talk about the meaning of the proverb “a well-fed hungry one does not understand.” She is now rarely seen in both written and spoken language. Maybe if you tell the world about it, people will use it more often.

Not just about food

If interpreted in the forehead, it will turn out: a well-fed person cannot understand the hungry. But this is not only the point. A well-fed one cannot understand how hungry, in principle, one wants to eat. Of course, a speculative well-fed person realizes that it is human nature to eat, and preferably three times a day. But for him this is not a problem. He simply opened the refrigerator, took what he liked, or rather, he wanted it and ate it.

The hungry has another problem: he does not have a “magic” refrigerator, that is, he is constantly experiencing torment. If such a food source existed, then both proverbial subjects would be full, and the problem would be settled. But life is not so simple.

The meaning of the proverb “a well-fed hunger doesn’t understand” comes down to human misunderstanding, when one is not aware of the situation and the situation of the other, moreover, he doesn’t even want to hear about it both literally and figuratively. He simply imposes his value grid on the fate of another person - and the difficulties disappear. It looks like a magic trick.

Example with two students

It is probably hard to understand without an example. Imagine a situation that does not apply to food. For example, there are two schoolboy friends, Senya and Sasha. Senya can buy a pen for himself, but Sasha cannot, so he has only one, and if he loses it, then he will have nothing to write in the lessons. Next, imagine that he still lost her. And Senya comes up to him and says: “Why are you upset, just take money from your mom for one more pen!” But how to explain to the Seine that there are poor parents in the world who have no money? You can say that to him: “You know, Senya, there are people who have no money.” It will be a shock for him, because he always has them. History is a revelation of the meaning of the proverb "a well-fed hungry one does not understand."

Why is this happening?

That's a good question. But there is perhaps no satisfactory answer to it. For example, why don't people donate sick children for operations, but rent yachts or buy football clubs? Of course, you can’t save all the children, the sea of ​​grief with which the world is washed is unlikely to become smaller. But still I wonder why people do not help when they can.

This is only a version, but still. There is a legend about the Buddha who did not know what old age, illness and death were, because he was protected in every way from the grief with which the world is filled. A person grows in a certain environment, communicates in a circle of people in which certain values ​​are accepted. Someone is lucky, and he needs less. Someone is unlucky, and he needs more. The world of these two people is colored either by a positive experience of existence, or negative. They close themselves in it and do not see what is contrary to it. Or maybe they do not consciously notice the “problem areas”. In addition, his shirt is always closer to the body, that is, people are often not interested in the misfortunes of another person, and they do not want to delve into them.

There is a fairly well-known social paradox, which partly explains the meaning of the proverb "a well-fed hungry one does not understand." Our sense of justice depends on what position we take in society. The elite believes that the world is organized fairly, but the lower we go down the "ladder of well-being", the less fair people find the world. And phraseologism speaks of a fundamental contradiction between people of different social positions.

If we formulate the meaning of the proverb “a well-fed hungry one does not understand” briefly, the following will come out: a person is not able to understand another if he himself did not know something from his own experience. The reader may be indignant and ask: “But what about the information flowing through all the channels of the media, is it really all for nothing ?!” The answer to this can only be disappointing. By some miracle, people do not notice this. Rather, they notice, but it does not bother them too much. Each of us exists in the space of the universe of our own consciousness. Therefore, the “proverbial full of the hungry does not mean” arose.