Dear 2025

 

As an emerging adult, I'm looking at the state of our world with sad eyes. I glance through childhood pictures while silent tears run down my face. I was full of so much love, hope, and ambition. It all seems to be a distant memory now. As I approach my first full-time job, 44 hours to be exact, I wonder if this is all there is to life. Work 9.5-hour days to have 4 hours to yourself, work five days to have two days off? Is this really it? In some ways, I spent my 16 years in school working towards freedom, just to join another prison system. We really are all running in a hamster wheel, not racing each other exactly, but trying to run away from our current state of life. I sit here and ponder what will make my life fulfilling. Will it be traveling, buying a house, or having children? I'm not sure, but it's hard to be excited for any of those things when I will have to constantly work to afford the things that may or may not be fulfilling in life. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who feels this way, but I know that can't be true. I have friends, at least I think, but I don't feel like they share this same mental anguish I do about this world. 

When I was young, this planet had so much potential. There were so many areas left unseen by my eyes, so many experiences still to be had. As I grew up, experiences became less fun, and the prospect of traveling became less likely. I don't dislike my small town; I truly love it in a way. While there isn't much to do, I think it's the only place that will truly ever feel like home. Which is why I want to stay. At least somewhat close by. I equally want to get out and travel and experience new things, while also wanting to stay close to my family and home forever. I suppose those two things cannot coexist. I am now left with trying to figure out which path I resonate with more. The first path, however intriguing, does not seem doable in this economy. (Ps. I know this blog post is a ramble.... I'm sorry. This economy is quickly breaking down when my generation is just starting to contribute. Again, how is that fair? The prices of cars, food, housing, and insurance are rising exponentially, but the hourly wages are remaining the same. 

Sometimes, I wish to had been born in a community/village where we live amongst the land and each other. No one cares about money. We learn the ways of the land, and we learn how to get by, but the days remain anew as we explore new ways of living each waking hour. But, unfortunately, humans have already lived that way, and we cannot revert back to our old expired ways, no matter how bad some of us (me) would like to. We must push forward and live amongst the chaos. We are now a fully mechanical world, and industries will continue to boom, while humans of the lower and middle classes will continue to struggle. We live in a time period where those of us who have committed no wrong against this great Earth are to suffer at the hands of the wrongdoers. We do not get to experience the lush green plains, garbage-free beaches, clean air, and weather that match the seasons. Instead, we must survive on a dystopian planet, ruined by those before us, and continuously tarnished by those beside us. We must live with polluted skies, garbage-filled water, extreme weather, and industrialized cities where robots have more rights than humans. Maybe this was destined to happen from the start. Maybe our creator knew our people would become so separated by greed and wealth, and do anything they could to destroy our planet, our home, while the rest of us "ordinary" people had to sit around and watch, and the only way to feel somewhat normal was to just accept it. Well, I don't want to accept it, but what is there to do? Where are the environmental scientists and conservationists? They seemed to only talk about them in school; now the career of environmental science is a dying field and no one should be surprised as to why.

I hope someday someone will read this. I will never become popular for my writing, if anything it's painfully average, maybe even below-average. No one cares about the experience of the average, boring human being. People want to read something great, something inspiring. Well, I'm not here to write an inspirational piece; I am here to write what is real. Maybe a relative of mine years in the future will find this and post it, or maybe it will go unseen. Anyways, bye for now. I hope to create a memoir of this melancholy life some day.