Just a thought here: is living in America worth it anymore?
I'm currently a thirtysomething man finishing up his M.A. I live in Michigan, which has been hit hard by the economic collapse of the last decade or so. I have a lot of student loan debt that cannot be discharged yet enough experience to find a job to qualify for 'forgiveness.' I also realize that in the economy we live in, I cannot really 'live' without being privy to a lack of medical care via insurance, affordable housing, and public transportation.
In short, I'm realizing that maybe I shouldn't even stay in America. Other places have their problems, but we're easily the worst first world country out there. Even people in Europe with their own austerity measures are realizing how utterly bad America really is with its focus on nothing but profit and demonizing any opposition as a moral/personal failure. Five will get you ten if I don't get a comment saying 'but this is LIFE, why don't you adapt like the rest of us?'
This, however, is not a reasonable explanation. This is the type of bullshit nonsense that condescends without any basis. It's the same shit our parents would give us so we give up just as fast as they did so it reinforces their own lack of life. Crab mentality--the idea of pushing others down so you achieve a shit equality of being constantly stepped on--is the name of the American game. The idea that we're all equal to be stepped on. It's a weakness projected as a virtue, and it's not even an answer.
So is America worth staying in?
Somehow, I think it is. But we need a lot of improvement. And honestly, I can't fault anybody who would leave. If I had sense, I would have bolted Michigan years ago to find a better place in the sun with a better climate. There's a difference between fighting the good fight and wasting your years while change comes from outside of you. I'm not sure which is really the best way.
Then again, that's never stopped anybody from being able to yell about what's wrong to find what's right either.
