I’m sitting with this mix of sadness and helplessness. My roommate—one of the kindest people I know—is about to lose his legal status in Canada unless he can afford a Master’s degree, which would give him a path to stay and work. He’s been helping me cover bills because I’ve been unemployed and trying to get back on my feet, and now I feel completely powerless to help him when he’s the one in trouble.
We’re not lazy. We’re not irresponsible. We’re just… stuck. And it’s exhausting.
Meanwhile, I scroll through videos of people lighting cigars with money, or “prank” channels giving away thousands for clicks. I don’t want to be bitter, but it’s hard not to feel like something is fundamentally broken.
We have brilliant, compassionate people struggling to find a job or a reason to stay hopeful, while others throw money around like they’re bored with being rich.
I don’t know. I guess I just wonder if anyone else ever feels like we’ve failed each other. Like, not just economically, but emotionally. Morally. We stopped looking out for each other, and now we’re all just quietly drowning.
Comments
Too real. Literally everyone I know can relate.
I think you two should get married.
You definitely aren’t wrong. Society rewards the worst characteristics.
I’d tend to agree.
Something went wrong when people are literally dying from lack of resources when others could save them literally a thousand times over without even noticing the cost.
Things like people trying to work 2 jobs and having to ration their insulin still.
Things have been growing out of whack for a while. I really think social media on smart phones is making everyone crazy and selfish.
Housing has gone nuts and I honestly think it is just real estate agent tactics constantly driving up.prices because God forbid anyone buys for what the seller is asking. Both my kids horrified agents by offering LESS and they got the houses.
Keep in mind those internet influencers lighting cigars and swimming with money you’re seeing aren’t always paragons of upstanding citizens. For example Andrew Tate is one guy you shouldn’t be jealous of
It’s not wrong to feel that way. Unfortunately, however, every society has its share of winners and losers. It’s more of a feature than a failure as sad as it is to say, though I wish saving everyone and not having to worry about the future was possible.
It’s always been that way. Today there are far fewer people in poverty than ever before, so we’re on the right path. It’s a zig zag path, not but generally the right direction.
Given this has been the case in every system and society since cavemen…. No.
This has been the case for all of humanity lol. Not new at all. It sounds like you need to stop doomscrolling
Your post sounds arrogance and entitled as shit. You just act like you did nothing wrong and that you are entitled to have others look out for you and you are entitled to have comforts and luxuries.
Marry them.
As long as the lower and middle classes keep voting against their own interests, it will get worse. But history has always been defined by the haves and have-nots.
I’m proud of you for your concern. We should all have hearts that are compassionate like yours. Taking care of oneself doesn’t mean that one has to act superior or flaunt their wealth. All the people who say that things have always been this way? There have always been selfish people, yes. But there have also been lots of wealthy people who have shared their wealth with those who are less fortunate. Those wealthy people are remembered centuries later for their virtue. Those who live selfishly are forgotten, at best.
You’re not wrong. We have failed as human beings collectively. We allow people to live exposed to the elements and to go hungry, and struggle and live in danger, even children-despite living in a time and a world with immeasurable amounts of wealth and a general ability to assist people to live in relative safety and reasonable comfort easily if we were desirous of doing so. We just… aren’t, apparently. I think the reality is that we haven’t gotten near as “better”/more enlightened as we believe we have done as a species. It’s not looking very promising right now that we will ever be much better.
I still have a little hope though. I mean, how many iterations of the Homo species have come and gone before Homo sapiens (us) dominated? Were there 15? 20? Certainly we can’t be the pinnacle of all of the species right? The idea that we would be is just depressing and also hilarious in a not at all funny way.
So if we don’t destroy our habitat here first (debatably too late but ?), maybe the next version of humans will suck less? Idk, it’s all I got. Best of luck to you-I hope things get a whole lot easier soon in your life.
You are not wrong.
Wealth inequality is growing, has been for decades, and is getting out of control. This is a serious problem that is going to create political upheaval if not addressed. I think young men being drawn to the alt right is an early warning sign.
If you’re on Youtube, check out Gary’s Economics. He explains how this happened and also is working on a pathway out of this mess.
“Ten men in our country could buy the whole world and ten million can’t buy enough to eat”.
Will Rogers
It is a fact that we’ve failed as a society when some of us are barely scraping by, and others can throw money away like it’s nothing !!
Absolutely. Canada is messed right now and I feel one of the worst parts is how hard it is to get a job at all. Most people on here from the US can’t even fathom (according to the past advice I’ve personally received) that the economic situation has really limited both the availability of jobs and the type of jobs one can live off of, as well as how much education one needs to even be eligible.
I’m also saddened by the waste and materialistic values I often see on social media. I’ve actually found it to be very prominent in Canada despite everything right now. It has gotten out of control.
It’s kinda like when some people say that homeless people deserve to be homeless, and when other people say that they need to be helped, the first group claps back with “let them into your home then :)” and when the second group says “No, I can’t/won’t do that”, instead of coming to logical conclusion that the average person can barely afford to take care of themselves for various reasons, the first group just acts all smug and says “gotcha!” and assume that the second group of people just say that homeless people need help because they want to virtue signal.
So you want everyone to be poor? Misery loves its company I guess
I think everyone needs to think about their consumption. People who don’t have money are throwing money at stupid things from the worst people like girls buying Kardashian crap and people shopping on Amazon. Those businesses are literally taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich. And for what, so some girl can wear overpriced spandex and feel like a Kartrashian
It is wrong to feel that way. All of the opportunities are there. The doors are open but the individual is not walking through the door.
nah you’re not wrong, this system rewards apathy and punishes empathy. it’s not you, it’s the game.