It has become clear not just because of the cold wind that has recently been blowing against refugees: it is now fashionable to unabashedly elbow one's way to secure one's own position. Those who openly demonstrate a willingness to help or even encourage others to do so are defamed as 'do-gooders' - and this happens not only at the local pub but also in the highest circles of the so-called intellectual elite, who attribute laziness and a desire for procreation to "those down there" and declare a lack of willingness to perform as the sole cause of their woes. "One should still be allowed to speak the truth!" is what you hear when you dare to point out how such generalizations remind one of a dark time. Where we come from - where we are going, asks the well-known poverty researcher Ernst-Ulrich Huster. His essay takes us to the roots of exclusion and selfishness, but also of help.