Here in the US, you hear a lot of rhetoric about Freedom. It's as if we have cornered the market on it. There's plenty of Freedom out there and many countries embrace it, but Americans always seem to forget that. Like we invented it or something. But how Free can a person really be? I'm not Free to do ANYTHING I please. Even the Ten Commandments limit Freedom or whichever religious doctrines to which people subscribe. Our Freedoms don't allow us to go around murdering people or stealing from them. Our Freedoms don't even allow me to walk where I want because apparently all land is owned by "someone".
Despite many Freedoms, or Rights, being preserved in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, we still exist in a society that works within the confines of certain norms, certain morals, even certain status. Freedom isn't the same as Equality and this country demonstrates that very well. We are free to practice any religion we choose but if we choose to practice one that is not mainstream or what our local community deems as "proper", we face backlash and stigmatization. So while our Freedoms are guaranteed, our Equality is not. It's taken forever for races to equalize, and it still has a way to go, if the current political nightmare is any example. Even genders still have to equalize as women are still paid less than men in many professions and continue to be treated as second-rate citizens. There are plenty of inequalities in this country, but none seem more misunderstood than financial inequality.
The difference between the poor and the wealthy is a cavernous gap. It seems that everything people depend on for a quality of life, a comfortable life, costs money. When you don't have money, you don't got nothing. Unfortunately, I mean that. Seriously. Name one thing we don't pay for. One thing that is entirely free. Fact is, we can't even live on One Thing. Food, Shelter, and Water are three things necessary for survival at bare minimum. We want a quality to living and that requires even more. So at the root of our America is Money.
Money buys groceries and pays the rent/mortgage/property tax. Water might be free but you need to pay for a well to be drilled and again, the taxes on the property. True, we could grow our own food but you'd need more land to raise animals for meat. You could be Vegan and simply grow vegetables and fruit and all, but land ain't cheap. What happens when the weather turns bad? If your crops go under? The original point to diversification of employment was so that not everyone had to tend the garden at home. That freed some people to do other tasks/jobs like learning medicine, studying science, teaching kids, building houses or what all. We don't have to be self-sufficient, but the trade-off is that money must pay for everything. That value is what is ingrained in us as children. The value of anything is measured in how much money someone will pay for it.
As a kid in school you were always asked what do you want to be when you grow up? A fireman, an astronaut, a teacher? We were delicately pushed into reliable jobs with good pay and benefits. You want to be an actor? Ugh, well maybe. You want to be an artist? A starving artist? An entrepreneur? How about a pharmacist? They make good money, and you don't have to deal directly with "sick" people, mostly. Now look, maybe times have changed and it's not quite so bad. Maybe parents and teachers do really let children follow their dreams. But honestly, if those dreams don't pay off, parents are stuck with their kids forever. It's in the parents' best interest to get those kids into good-paying jobs.
The point I'm trying to make here is that even as young children, we are taught that to be happy and successful means making money. We hold jobs we don't like because it pays well. We work with people we don't like because our retirement depends on it. We work overtime because if we lose this job, we lose our health benefits. We hold jobs because we need the money. Did we ever hold jobs because we liked the work that we did? Did the job ever have a value that wasn't connected to dollars? Did we ever get any personal satisfaction from it? The answer to all those questions is the true American Dream; if someone could answer "yes" to all of that, then they are living the Dream.
We have stress because we can't work enough to pay for what we need. Not for what we want; what we NEED. If we can't work enough to pay for the things we need, how will we ever get rid of the stress? Stress that causes us to overeat, or to become fatigued. Billionaires will never understand, even if they've come from nothing. They have what they need and what they want. They have it millions of times over. The poor have stress and anxiety, wondering if they can make the rent or mortgage payment this month. The poor work paycheck to paycheck and Billionaires don't. The wealthy don't understand the fear of checking your bank account every time you pay a bill or make a transaction. That, I feel, is the true definition of being poor: checking your bank account daily.
When I felt financially secure, I hardly ever checked my account. I knew that I had enough money for my expenses and some extra. When I wasn't, I had to check every day, to be sure that I had enough to stagger my bills through the month and not miss one. A paycheck went in and the money went out the next day for a bill. If it's more than anticipated, like the electric bill, the account would slowly draw down. It was like watching a plane crash in slow motion; you know it's gonna hit the ground but when? Many people will say at this point, get another job, get a better job, get trained for a better job, go back to school. See, here's the real kicker, education costs money unless an employer foots the bill. If you can't pay your bills, you ain't paying for education. Even knowledge costs money.
But hey, yes, there are high-paying jobs that pay for everything a person needs. Guess what? Not everybody want to do them. Surgeons make a lot of money but I'm not cutting into people. Carpenters make a lot of money but I'm not much for building or math. Here's the thing: the jobs that make good money, I hate doing. It's not that I couldn't, it's that those jobs do not make me happy. They are the slog. They are the pit of despair. What I like is to do nothing. To write when I feel like it. To play games. To make art and play with papercrafting. To bake. But the things that I enjoy are not valued in this society in the way that is worth cold, hard, cash.
Before anyone reading this gets their panties in a wad because I said I like doing nothing, allow me to elaborate. When activities aren't valued (aka not a real job), they don't pay well therefore they are worth nothing; they are nothing. But it isn't just that. It's that I have a physical rhythm. Some days I can accomplish a lot and some days I want to stay in bed all day. Working 9 to 5 on a day I'd rather be in bed stresses me out. The stress triggers anxiety and the anxiety builds because if I don't work, I don't get paid and I can't pay my bills. Not everyone in the world is built to work a standard job for 40 hrs a week (or more in most cases). Yet everyone in America is expected to or they are lazy and working the system.
No disrespect to the motivated workers out there who take pride in their jobs and have a substantial bank account and retirement savings. I'm talking strictly about us poor people. Paycheck to paycheck people. The working Poor. Why can't we be free, too? Why can't we stop watching our bank account draw down every time we need our car fixed? Why is it so hard to raise the minimum wage? Or to separate health care benefits from employment? Or to give workers more of a tax break EVEN IF THEY DON'T HAVE KIDS?!
Money, money, money, money, money...
It even dictates our laws, our elected officials, our manufacturing...it's EVERYTHING.
Money may be the root of all evil, but it makes this world go round. I'm getting run over.
End.
Wy
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