People vs. Money

I hate to start any post with cutting negativity, but over the past nine months it has become more and more painfully obvious to me that nobody gives a fuck.

Allow me to clarify on that: We are at the epicenter of a global pandemic, one that has killed over 250,000 Americans and has caused roughly 14 million Americans to lose their jobs. Over half of those who lost their jobs are still looking for work, me among them. But the job loss is not the only economic impact. Many people have had their wages, hours, or overtime cut as well, and almost half of Americans in a recent survey stated that they have struggled to pay their bills since the pandemic hit. Yes, it has been a rough nine months for many of us...but if we are keeping it real, nobody gives a fuck.

The wealthiest people in America, while the rest of the populace suffers, have expanded their wealth exponentially in the past nine months, betting and bargaining and cutting deals at the expense of the working class. Landlords, rather than demonstrate that they have souls, jumped to evict people the second the moratorium on evictions was lifted. Credit card companies have canceled lines of credit for people who have been laid off, even if those people had flawless payment histories like myself. Interest rates have not been lowered, nor has any of the major financial institutions offered any kind of relief to those who have been hit by these ugly economic times. Internet providers are cutting no slack, even when kids are learning fully remote and their parents may not be able to keep up with the bills. Courts are suspending licenses and doling out other collateral sanctions to people who may have no means of paying tickets or attending court ordered classes (most of which have been indefinitely canceled until rates of infection go down). Shelters and drug rehab facilities are making it damn near impossible for people to get their services in many cases. Child support keeps coming after parents who, even though they owe support, have been helping their children navigate the new world of online learning - and yet they are not getting any respite from their support payments. They are being threatened with jail, because somehow that makes sense in their bureaucratic little clusterfuck of a universe. Most kids are not better off with a parent in jail, and a parent in jail will have a very hard time paying any kind of child support, which means the entire system is set up to screw over children. Cute. And speaking of jail, people are still being locked up and sentenced for petty crap that should not even be handled by the criminal justice system, especially during a time when that system is a Covid death trap. If you shoplifted from Walmart, you should do community service (like maybe returning people's carts AT WALMART), not going to jail for six months where you could catch Covid and die. That is a clear case of the punishment not fitting the crime whatsoever.

These are just some of the examples of how we live in a society and a system that has no soul, no conscience, no sense of what is morally right, and no freaking clue what justice really is. I thought, when this pandemic shit started, that we all might wake up. I thought that this might be the catalyst for major change to a system that has exploited its people and taken them for granted for far too long. And for a short time, it seemed like things might start to change. Many employers stopped forcing sick people to work and revamped their sick leave policies. Congress revisited talks about mandatory sick leave with pay, along with other worker protections. But it was all smoke and mirrors. What we got was $1200 of money that was already ours to begin with and a big "FUCK YOU" from everyone in power. So when I say nobody gives a fuck, I mean nobody that can make a difference gives a fuck. And maybe I have a little extra hope now that Biden has been elected and I don't have to listen to that speed-junkie, sycophant, misogynistic, Cheeto-man pathologically lie every day about how he cares about Americans, but the system itself is so completely incompetent that my tiny bit of hope cannot supersede my well-earned cynicism. It has been proven time and time again that we, the working and middle class, the people who bust our balls so we can barely pay our bills while CEOs quadruple their salaries every year, don't mean shit to anybody that matters (with the exception of the Pope, who seems to really care about everyone but has very little tangible power, so it doesn't matter). 

And do you know what is even more disheartening about all of this? What sucks the most is that there are people in the middle and working class who cannot see how badly they are being fucked, and who seem to revel in the misfortune and struggles of others who are just like them. They have been so indoctrinated by capitalism and greed and individualist thinking, that they readily place value in money over people. They embrace the idea that other people should suffer so that they don't have to pay a few more dollars in taxes each paycheck. They are fine with people dying because they can't afford insulin if it means they can keep more of their precious dollars. I encounter these people on a daily basis, and many of them even claim to be Christians. And yet they judge my value as a person and the value of other people by a monetary standard. This warped ideology is truly disturbing to me, and it should be disturbing to anyone who considers themselves a HUMAN BEING. Because everybody has a value. Each person in this world possesses qualities and characteristics that are uniquely different from every other person in existence.  I hate to say it, but even the psychopathic and criminally insane have something to offer the world, be it insight into the depths of human depravity or opportunities to discover exactly what factors contribute to a person's failure to develop a conscience or understand empathy. I would never want to befriend a psychopath, but I am not so ignorant as to believe that they have no purpose. Because from the homeless vet standing on the corner with his cardboard sign, to Jeff Bezos in his mansion trying to figure out who to donate his billions to so he can save the world, EVERYONE HAS VALUE. Maybe the system does not acknowledge it, and maybe our culture is hellbent on turning us into consumerist capitalist zombies that only value the people in our own little bubble. But I am here to tell you that you don't have to be sick with the system or a slave to a consumerist culture. You can choose to value people - all people - over money, over material goods, over selfishness and greed and ego. You can choose to embrace your humanity and give a fuck. Because too many people have already stopped caring...and if everyone stops, what will be the point of living anymore?

I hope you are all well, staying afloat, and believing in that light at the end of the tunnel, even if you can't see it yet. And I hope you believe in each other as well.

Peace, love, and long live the revolution.