Disillusioned and exhausted

To start this off, I understand any mod who takes this down. I just don't know where else to put this. This community and the D&D community in general has always been an outlet for me to vent this stuff. Either through my games as a DM, or characters as a player. Its also the place that i feel most comfortable being myself. I know right, it seems counter intuitive that a hobby devoted to being someone else makes me most secure in my own identity. So, I want to share something with all of you, as D&D really helped me to solidify and understand the emotions that I'm going to share. To preface, I understand that many of my views are likely impossible from a practical perspective, so at least take it easy on me on that front.So, at its core, my view is super cliche and I'll get to why. I know I'm not the only one who has felt helpless watching the world slowly careen towards the metaphorical iceberg while humanity seems to dance joyfully on the deck of the ship to orchestral music, purposefully avoiding eye contact with aforementioned iceberg. I refuse to bring politics into this, because that opens an entire barrel of worms that I'd prefer not detract from what I'm trying to say.The main thing that I have noticed time and time again, is the ever present and ever malevolent presence of money at the core of every major issue. "Money is the root of all evil", I told you, cliche. But genuinely, I have spent the last 15 years asking every person I've ever become well acquainted with what is the one thing in this world that they find to be the biggest injustice or issue, from their perspective. Whether it be racism, sexism, cancer, ignorance, etc, if you just ask "why do you feel that way" or "what do you think is the cause of that" enough times, the answer almost unfailingly comes to that someone makes money by letting it continue to exist.So, the idea of most of the misery and suffering in this world being profitable to someone, somewhere is appauling to me, and I would assume most people agree. One of my good friends that I game with regularly is of the firm opinion that people are naturally selfish and self serving. We've debated on this often. I'm personally of the opinion that the average person is actually fairly selfless and altruistic but are placed in circumstances that force them to behave in self preservation. It is difficult to be altruistic when feeding a hungry stranger relegates your family to starvation.I feel that a big reason we find ourselves in this situation is due, at least in America and other similarly economic countries, that times have changed so dramatically and so quickly, that it is difficult to understand just how difficult things have become. In the span of 2 generations, the ratio of money earned to money needed has shifted so dramatically that poverty has blindsided a vast majority of ill equipped people. I won't claim to be an expert, in any field, but I have spent a large amount of time studying these things both on paper and through the, admittedly limited, interactions with other people of various ages and socioeconomic groups.From what I was able to see, just the simple act of living requires more of a percentage of money earned for less accommodation. To illustrate what I mean, for much of the early to late 1900's a family was not only able, but expected to only have one person working one job, and was able to comfortably accommodate their entire family. I am aware and willing to admit that many of these job were difficult on a level that many of us today won't experience. I will also admit to the other incredibly harrowing events that I, and many other people in this generation won't be able to understand, as we didn't experience them. If I am willing to compromise on that, can it also be agreed that a singular bread winner was all that was necessary to sustain a family unit in a pretty decent lifestyle, as possible by the technology of the time?If that is agreed on, at the very least, I would now like to state that in the current economic state we find ourselves in. One person can not provide for an entire family, without breaking into occupations by sheer luck or other arbitrary factors. It used to be possible to walk into businesses and make a good impression by talking to the boss and getting brought on that day with nothing but a pocket full of dreams and the determination to succeed. But, these days, that simply isn't possible anymore. If I want to be hired anywhere of value, I have to have experience, usually multiple years worth, before even talking to them. Or, I require to have indebted myself to a crippling degree at an institution thats goal is to generate profit, not to teach me about the field or employ me.So, the average person likely doesn't have access to those jobs as every one of them requires experience, but none of them are willing to give you that experience, unless you are willing to work for them for free. But, since your landlord doesn't really care that you're on an unpaid internship, you can't really sacrifice your family's food and shelter for 6 months. You get what you can. Those jobs don't pay nearly enough to cover all those expenses, so you need to get another. If you have children, its likely that 3 jobs will need to be held by the household simultaneously if you want your family to eat something other than Ramen noodles and don't want to hear gunshots outside your home every night. Fortunately your kids just think they're fireworks, and you don't really want to correct them.Hopefully, you have two adults to spread those jobs around because I know way too many single parents who never get to see their children and it breaks my heart because they are destroying their body and sanity for the people they love and those children will likely grow up dispising them for the sacrifice they had to take for this broken culture.Some may be wondering why all this is necessary. It shouldn't be that much for food and shelter. On some level they're right. But, the simple fact is, that we are required to have things now that used to be luxuries and all of these add up. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that it costs about 15-20000 per person, per year, to live above the poverty line. Around 54% of American families make less than 60,000 a year. So, if any of those one out of two families have more than one child, they live in poverty. That is the long and short of it. But, thats only accounting for basic necessities like food, shelter, and utilities. That doesn't take into account yearly cost of a car, the multitudes of insurance, cellphone/internet service (which yes, are a requirement as almost every occupation has done away with paper applications and requires online applications, and possible follow up phone calls), and the arrogant belief that ocassionally we want to do something enjoyable that gives life meaning.But, we move on. We move on to the fact that the entire world realized how fragile this glasshouse of a world economy was when covid spread. Quarantine shut everything down and we saw the absolute worst of humanity come out. Millions of people around the world lost their jobs, unable to find new jobs, unable to provide for their families. My family was one of those. I had finally broken through. I got a job that was paying 3 times more than I'd ever had, my debts were getting paid, my relationship was getting back on track, everything was looking up. But, quarantine happened and I got the boot. I was able to keep things going for a month or two, but we fell behind. Or landlord waited for the moratorium to lapse, then evicted us. We had nowhere to go, no one was hiring, and I had a family to take care of. We have a place and I got another job now, but just barely making it. We're not homeless or destitute now, but I'm one of the lucky ones. Many other have had a far worse experience and still currently are.But my point is this. Many of the countries in this world live in opulence and luxury. We throw away enough food to feed entire other countries. And when so many were unable, physically unable to work, did the companies of this world think that now was the time to give back to the workers that put them in their mansions? Did these people who live on the backs of others think for a moment that the best course of action would be to give aid when governments couldn't or wouldn't? Did anyone do anything beyond demand that we risk our health and our families to keep making them money? Did anyone care about the millions of people needing a break? The fact is that we have been ignoring people in need for a long time. That job that I had was helping military veterans with government Healthcare. I loved that job because I would spend every day doing everything I could to give them what I feel they deserve. I dont personally agree with every war we've fought, and I dont want this to become about that. I have a bunch of family who are veterans, one of which is my father. I respect the hell out of them. And regardless of whether or not anyone agrees with the specifics, they can respect those who would genuinely die for what they believe to be right. It broke my heart to see so many of them forgotten and forsaken by the government they fought for. I spent every day making sure that everything they accrued through service was paid for by the government that sent them there in the first place. No matter what your stance is, I feel that we can all agree that they should take responsibility for the people they saw fit to deploy.It may seem like I'm rambling or complaining, and that would be fair, but all of these disparate topics lead back to one central point. The reason for all of this suffering is because someone, somewhere, makes money by forcing it to continue. Health care, there's more money in treatment. Corrupt and ineffectual government, as long as someone's palm is greased, any immoral act is legal. Low wages, cutting cost to keep more up top. Nicotine, addicts are reliable customers. Fossil fuels, WAY too much money in that to switch to anything else. Every monetary aspect our lives has been min/maxed to charge us just enough to keep us from going broke and paying us just enough to keep us from dying. Broke people and dead people can't keep buying things.Why am I bothering with this? I'm not sure. Like I said, I know my ambitions are impossible. But, the only way forward that I see, that doesn't end in our inevitable mutual destruction is to get rid of money. I know, its genuinely the most stupid conclusion a person could come to, but hear me out. We already currently have, or could quickly develop the means to automate most or all the basic aspects of the workforce. We already have algorithms that perform most administrative tasks better than humans, assembly lines that produce better product than humans, 3d printers that can make anything from food to houses. The only reason we haven't is because people still need jobs to get money to continue to live. A good reason, but if we were to eliminate the necessity for arbitrary pieces of paper that dictate our existence, we could automate those jobs.Why would we do this? Wouldn't that cause humans to stagnate and lose meaning in life? Wouldn't that render us completely obsolete? I've heard all of these protests before. But, one other question I ask all of my friends, before any others, is what would you do if you never had to worry about money? The odd thing is, no one has ever said "nothing". When freed of financial obligation, everyone has a dream that they want to fulfill. Most want to travel, that seems to be the most common. But, from my conversations, I've noticed that pretty much every (decent) job in this world has at least one person who loves to do it, or has always wanted to do it. I've heard everything from teacher to underwater pipeline repair. From mechanic to chef, to artist, to designer, lawyer, etc, etc, etc. Everyone has something that they are passionate about. But almost every single one of them has an obstacle to achieving it. Can you guess what it is? All I'm saying is that if we eliminate a culture that forces people to have a job that they hate, just to get by. Then every person who IS working in a particular field, truly wants to be there. No more jaded, abusive teachers. No more apathetic doctors. If you hate it, leave. You can now. And best of all, companies would no longer have any reason to Nicole and dime us to give out the worst possible product they can get away with. What would be the point? If you remove the baked in benefit of cutting corners and screwing over the recipient, then technological advancement could possibly be for the betterment of humanity, rather than betterment of the economic standing of the company.If you've read all the way to this point, I genuinely appreciate it. I know that this is stupid. I do. I know I'm likely never going to succeed in seeing anything change. I'm just so tired of seeing single parents struggling to survive. I'm tired of seeing truly genius people waste their talents at a McDonald's because they came from the wrong family that can't send them to MIT. I'm tired of so many great people struggling and dying in a world that could be so much better, overnight, if we just stop being evil to each other for the sake of an extra zero at the end of bank statement. I hope you are doing well in all this, and I wish you the best. Maybe things will get a little better. I hope they do. If any of you are willing, id be more than happy to know what you would do if you had the chance. To put it the way I usually do, what would do if you money was no obstacle in your life? via /r/DMAcademy https://ift.tt/34o2zTV