when ignorance reigns, life is lost

I want for you to have the security of knowing you will always have food to eat. Regardless of whatever happens in an uncertain world, I want for you to never be hungry. I want you to have the security of knowing you will always have a safe place to live. I want you to know that everyone you know and love will always have this as well. And I don't want anyone to struggle to the point of physical or mental harm to have these things. In fact it's absolutely unnecessary for anyone to struggle at all.

You should feel safe to try and learn and explore life, in a society that embraces embraces and supports you, knowing that society as a whole is enriched by individuals exploring life. You should feel safe expressing yourself however you choose, confident that society will embrace and encourage you, knowing that society is made whole by the acts of individuals fully expressing themselves. You personally absolutely deserve this. Everyone you know and love deserves this.

Imagine all the people you know no longer having any of the stresses involved in the mere act of existing in modern society. How much of an impact would that have on the mental well being of the average person? What about children, now being raised by parents not under constant stress, and no longer longer having the same pressures concerning their futures because no matter what, they'll be alright? 

This is not a utopian pipe dream. Nor is it remotely an unrealistic goal. Not only is it simply a matter of society shifting priorities, the cost of doing so is significantly less than continuing the current course. 

The fact that a company with $6 billion dollars in rental property investments or some guy with three vacation homes says we shouldn't guarantee housing doesn't mean we shouldn't. Just because a government that pays farmers to not grow food in order to artificially inflate the prices (and therefor the cost of living) claims we don't have the resources to provide healthy food for all, doesn't mean it's actually true. In fact, the people who live in excess by keeping the resources away from the majority of people are most likely the worst people to listen to when it comes to asking what is best for society,  what is possible. 

And if your views on the matter align with someone who profits off ensuring you have less, off ensuring you remain in a constant state of struggling to survive, maybe ask yourself why that is.

And maybe ask yourself, what even is the purpose of society? To live under rules that only benefit the rule makers, and the few with the funds to influence them? Or to work together towards creating something strengthens us as individuals, that would not have been possible as individuals? That the many struggle for the benefit of the few, or that all cooperate in betterment of all?

Fun fact: not one single person working for health insurance companies in any way provides any actual service that benefits your health, and the industry as a whole is completely unnecessary and exists only to financially benefit a few people. Health insurance is the people pooling their resources for healthcare, only to allow other people to subtract a large portion of those resources. Conversely, universal healthcare is also the people pooling their resources, only without corporate boards using those resources to give themselves bonuses while often denying healthcare to the people those resources come from to begin with.

That's just one glaring example of how the current structure of society overly compensates the few, at the expense of the many. Not just the financial expense, but the mental and emotional stress of never knowing if an illness or injury will completely derail their life, even if they're fully insured. It's also a glaring example of how easy it is to fix such things. Shift the resources for medical care away from people and companies that provide no medical care. That's literally it. Yes, there are finer details and safeguards against the government misusing the resources that will need to be addressed, but essentially, it would be remarkably simple and benefit literally everyone who is not in charge of the current system.

Why do grocery stores require a corporate structure that by it's existence makes it more expensive for you to eat? Any defense of such a thing is an argument for why you personally should spend more on food so someone else can draw a huge salary sitting in an office thinking of ways to get more of your money. 

Why do apartments require a corporate structure whose sole purpose is to extract maximum profit without adding anything beneficial to the renters? In fact, the less they can give renters, the more they profit, which is their sole function. More people struggle so few people can live way above the struggle. For that matter, why do banks with trillions of dollars in assets, need to charge as much as they do in interest, and punish people for struggling by seizing their cars and homes? Banks don't have to do that to be profitable, they choose to, and they've done everything they can to ensure society can't function any other way. But it's not the only way, it's relatively very simple to change, and maybe listening to banks was a bad way to go. Let's move on. Public non-profit lending institutions would radically alter life for the better for the people most punished by the current structure.

It's a harsh reality that all of the people who ensure the people of the US can eat, from the farmer to the truck driver to the stocker at the grocery, they're all a bad month at best from losing everything they are working for. But the people who contribute nothing directly, who already profit the most, they can afford a system of safety nets. The workers build safety nets for the owners who in turn extract every bit of profit from the workers as possible making it impossible for workers to provide a net for themselves (the same owners also fight laws that would allow a reasonable social safety net).

This is reflected in every industry. Like the boards of insurance companies who extract money from the healthcare industry without providing any healthcare, or even a service that isn't easily replicated without needing them. Thousands and thousands of people file bankruptcy every year entirely because people who provide no medical services extract massive personal wealth from the system. And we all know it's wrong. And the solution is extremely simple.

All the fixes in life aren't simple. All the problems won't go away without a long process of change. But some major fixes are in fact simple. No matter what the people who profit off not fixing things say. We can ensure everyone eats. We can guarantee safe housing. We can provide medical treatment for everyone. We can provide an environment where no child grows up ever fearing failure. And the amount of healing society will undergo just from those few changes will enable and promote the long process of healing. We can clean our wounds and apply appropriate bandages right now. 

The resources exist, they're just being horded. It really just comes down to weather the compassion exists to redirect them. And whether we care about our fellow human beings enough not to care what the people who are exploiting them say. I want you to live in a world where that is the case. You deserve it. Your value as a fellow human being demands that enriches instead of exploits you. And so does everyone you care about.