Pursuing happiness is a full time job with no benefits, kind of like Amazon or Walmart or any other part time job at a monopoly. Unfortunately, the pursuit only pays off for a privileged few, the same few that are now allowing us all to rot. Who could ask for more? Apparently, no one in America. No one is willing to fight for equality in this nation. All you see are the same people saying the same things, living the same lives. It's all the same: work, shop, repeat. There's no meaning in any of it so don't try to find it; you'll drive yourself mad trying to find some reason for America to exist. On no other planet but earth could a bunch of drunken slave owners write the literal book on freedom. The irony of a nation that prides itself on freedom after having built itself on slavery, and still very much maintaining itself on slavery overseas, is just too much for me to be expected to keep a straight face. I have to laugh at our knights in penguin armor, moralizing to us on the benefits of being sustainable, and not wasting. It is almost dumbfounding to watch. How could a people so educated be so complicit in this abuse? It must be that people are just too busy to be alive. Nowadays, when I look around, I often wonder to myself, "Is everyone just their occupation? Is that it? Is that all I need to know about people anymore?" It seems like there's nothing else to talk about but work, even on your down time. I remember sitting around at work, talking about the next job I was going to go off to. Then coming home and talking about some third or fourth gig that was coming up. It seems like it's all I ever talked about. I don't think that's really true, but I do feel like that, and that is why I have decided that America is a cubicle, a big, boring barrier to everything that makes you happy. You are thrown into the cubicle as a kind of punishment, and then you proceed to receive several more punishments (mostly in the form of school and employment) for the rest of your days. I hate it when people smile at me, and tell me to cheer up. What the hell for? I have nothing to look forward to; things aren't going to get any better for me. I'm not white enough for that miracle nonsense. Hell, some white people aren't even white enough for that. Santa is not coming on Christmas Eve this year, or any year. So, I'll sit here and deliver the raw pain of this depression in its real form. It's fitting that we call economic downturns depressions because we are, after all, pursuing happiness. It almost seems as if the pursuit of happiness inevitably leads to depression, as if our happiness only leads to more punishment. It is a kind of torture, allowing a man to suffer with his dreams, knowing they will never be fulfilled. I understand why the United States is frequently caught torturing its captives. People are left for dead out here, and it doesn't matter to the upper classes. They don't see you, not unless you're performing some task for them, some show, some duty... I expected this, to be left behind. I knew I would end up here, if I survived. I just didn't know if I would survive or not. Consider this episode a warning from a man who has already been there, someone who has already been screwed by the system. Consider that it could happen to you too, that perhaps your career is not as secure as it seems. Economies are fickle. They go where the wind blows. These people do not need you in any way; I am talking about corporate America, the ruling class...You are not vital to them; they will abandon you because that is what they must to do to profit. I just want you to know that no one hears you when you cry out for help, and when it gets so bad that you do actually ask for help, people mock you. Sure, it's depressing, but there's a lot of work to do. Oh, and don't forget the PPE your child slaves built; we do have to be kind after all. Music credit goes to bensound.com Image credit goes to Mika Baumeister