Takin' It to the Streets

Adobe Firefly 4

Before I went to bed last night I spent some time doom scrolling across Tic Tac just to check out the lives. I came across one creator that I follow that actually called me out by name and asked for a $5 donation because she told everyone watching I haven’t sent her any money. I found that a bit embarrassing not just because my wife was watching. But for the last four days my bank account  has been in a $6 deficit.

I say this not so much out of embarrassment but as a concern for how our lives have become nothing but a profit-making venture. I know this is a slippery slope to climb especially with how the current economy has been lately. I understand that most creators do this out of need and not greed. It’s just ironic for me to see many of my euro friends much less fixated on money and more focused on living their best life. It just seems that most Americans live their lives in forced labor camps. Chained to their jobs like another commodity to the shareholders. It’s just sad to think after all the hard work our grandparents and great-grandparents put in to fight for labor rights. We find ourselves again chained to the greed of the wealthiest among us.

Of course it’s easy for me to talk seeing people living in chains, when I cash a Social Security check every month. Many people my age and younger have been programmed to think that SSA or SSDI is an entitlement, when for the vast majority it’s a system we paid into. The misconception is that benefit recipients are lazy moochers. When in fact they are your grandparents, parents, and those with special needs. That for the most part, are one check away from living on the streets. But we know it doesn’t have to be this way. With fair wages and the corporations starting to carry their fair share. We could once again have a healthy middle class.

Corporate greed kills me, watching people beg for money for sugar and ketchup kills me. We at our heart are a generous people, so why is greed such a drug the blinds the wealthy to act no different than a junky hungry for another fix.