Why are you important to Steem? :) | And some thoughts about my beloved country

^{Photo taken by me @flaws}

The situation in Venezuela has been getting much worse this year, the inflation of the Venezuelan economy is increasing and there are still no clear signs of a possible way out of this. Lately I've been reading the news and I noticed that using public transport costs a lot more, getting to be worth 4,000 and 8,000 BSS if you want to go to the farthest place the bus can go (places and distances traveled by buses vary depending on the bus lines). The most expensive ticket on the bus line to a place called Macanao costs 25,000 BSS, remember that the minimum wage of a Venezuelan is about 250,000 BSS, just imagine paying 4,000 BSS daily, a month we would spend 120,000 BSS on public transport.

In my case I walk to school, it's relatively close, about 2-3km, and this is my last year in high school so my body has gotten used to that distance over the years. Currently I try to make good articles continuously to be curated, but, it is discouraging to think that someday the situation could become so bad that what I earn at Steem cannot help me financially. I really thank the people who have supported me so far and I hope to receive their continued support (I will work hard to deserve it), but sometimes I think about the people who are suffering from the same economic crisis and do not have the resources to survive. What will those people do to survive? Are there any Venezuelans here? How active are their blogs? I used to see a lot of Venezuelans here, this day I only found 3 active blogs from Venezuelans. It's really hopeless.

^{Photo taken by me @flaws}

Personally, the crypto market has also been something that has affected my earnings here. I'm a user who joined here when the market started to decline (I think I'm not so lucky), since I joined I've seen how what I earned in my posts has been worth less and less, which has influenced quite a bit when it comes to buying food for my family. But, despite earning less and less, I haven't considered leaving Steem. This is something that many people here need to consider, what if the content creators just come here to simply create content? They would end up leaving Steem for the simple fact that it doesn't seem profitable to continue creating content here and end up going to more profitable businesses like websites or that kind of thing (that's why I like projects like @steempress-io).

When we talk about Steem and refer to it as a community, this should not happen. In my experience with the Spanish community I saw that many people were here because Steem is a place to make money and indeed they were right. Yes, Steem is a place where you can make money, but also a place where you can NOT make money (nor do we owe you money), there are incredible content creators that have gone through everything on Steem since they are not necessarily here for the money, although obviously what they generate in their posts has been something that has helped them stay here, regardless of whether what they earn is more or less than what they used to earn, they know that Steem will ALWAYS be better in that aspect than any other social network. No social network allows you to earn money for giving your opinion on some topic, even if you earn $1 on Steem (and it seems little), it will be infinitely better than any other social network, and this is what we must make clear to all the people that we want to invite to Steem.

^{Photo taken by me @flaws}

You don't have to be a developer or an economist to be a fundamental part of Steem, I think anyone who wants to make Steem a better place for all people is equally important. All the users who are part of Steem are important, because without the users who consume and sen Steem, we would obviously be nothing. I don't mean that we don't need DApp developers and economists who can offer ideas for improving the economics of Steem, but being a common user who wants to help and make Steem a better place is just as important as the people who are developing the Steem code.

So, if you've been at Steem all this time despite the market and the problems that have occurred in the community, I'm completely confident that better times are ahead. But this doesn't mean you should sit back and wait for things to happen, Steem is a community and if we improve as a community, we all improve. The benefits here are not individual, even if there are people who make it seem that way.

We're a big community, but if we don't act like one, we won't get very far. You can take the first step, you can tell your cousin, your neighbor, anyone about Steem, show them that there is a social network that is NOT Facebook and that is much better than what current social networks offer. Just do it and do it in the best way possible, that way you will be contributing greatly to the community even if it doesn't seem like it.

^{Photo taken by me @flaws}

-- Jean.