“Survival mode” was basically my family’s first few years as new immigrants before we managed to move on from that stage. I don’t think we even had “6-figures”, far from it.
Now the entirety of America get to experience what is it like to be an immigrant lol.
Still remember in Brooklyn, I was in elementary school. I was in an afterschool program than ran until 6PM, I was just waiting, as the clock ticking… minute and minute goes by, other kids get picked up from school. Until there are only a few kids left, then someone enters the cafeteria where us kids were waiting, I thought is that mom?, but it was someone elses parent… this goes on and on… until I was the only one left. But my mom still hasn’t come. 6:30PM. I was so afraid CPS was gonna get involved. Authorities were terrifying for me as a kid. I mean, who knows, immigration status could’ve been at risk. This scene repeats itself very often.
Mom had work until very late, so get picked up very late. Not always the last one, but always very late, the last few, but then there are days where I get very ublocky and end up being the last one to get picked up.
I get so anxious and scared and felt so alone, until my mother shows up.
You can guess why I eventually end up with depression.
I’m not going to give them the benefit of ‘survival mode.’ If you’re breaking even in a million dollar home you are not the same as someone breaking even in a studio.
My siblings and I have slept in a car. We have slept for weeks in a hotel room. We have been to shelters and we have lived with grandparents while mom got on her feet. We had Christmas in the back seat of a 90s Lunima. While I don’t wish it on anyone, I won’t give someone that has to reduce spending an inch in terms of hardship. Even in this economy 6 figures is manageable if you live frugally.
Hey, it sounds like we’re twinsies! Right down to having ‘Christmas’ (if you could call it that, haha!) in the back seat of a '90s Lumina! That’s a wild coincidence. I understand where you’re coming from.
I genuinely hope things are better and more stable for you all nowadays. I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. Internet hugs to you, if you want them. 🫂
Better headline: some Americans with six-figure incomes are incompetent at managing their finances.
My brother makes $200K and his wife makes $100K. Somehow they are broke. It just doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense. They do Uber Eats for literally every meal but that can’t account for all the money, can it?
They do Uber Eats for literally every meal
You’d be surprised.
I knew a rich girl in college who literally ordered $40+ of sushi 2-3 times a day.
$120/day is still under $44k/year. That’s most of what I make, but it isn’t enough to cripple $300k/year of income on its own.
I love not having kids. I’m happy I have a small dog.
Good choice to not bring kids into this world.
Anyone who doesnt understand this should find some YouTube videos with young people talking about feeling extreamly unhappy in our societies.
They dont want to be here but their parents got them because they wanted more meaning in their own lives.
At the same time… try not to let the fascists win.
If you want to start a family, start a family. People can’t control the conditions or nations they were born in, and they shouldn’t be expected to deprive themselves of the small solace in life that is having a loving family just because it’s the “responsible choice”. That’s eugenics bullshit.
Yea… my country did birth control stuff, One Child Policy, I was the second child. I wasn’t supposed to be born. And even though I did suffer a lot, I’m still glad to exist, to have felt some joy during childhood, even as I lived in an autocracy and in a very impoverished area, and later in a declining democracy, I still have experienced life, and I’m glad that I had the opportunity, to have existed as a living being, as rare as life is, and even rarer, as a human, the ability to just think about things, philosophy, to gaze upon the stars, to have experienced parental love (well… sort of… later on they kinda got a bit more rough), to see cities and the countryside, to see the magnificence of nature, and tall skyscrapers.
Even through poverty, I still feel like this existence is worth it, no matter how this would end. Whether we all die of nuclear apocalypse tomorrow, or whatever. It was a fun ride. And I’m glad my mother gave birth to me, regardless how negative I might feel about them as parents.
