Times/Hardship

"Kids these days," They say.

"Back in my day," They say.

"These are difficult times," They lament.

 

"Things were better back than."

"We went outside."

"We could breathe."

 

"We got sick and died."

"We had no rights."

 

"We spent time with family."

"We didn't have this dumb slang."

 

"We missed out on so much connection."

 

"We could use the Internet."

 

"We didn't have the Internet."

 

The times will always be difficult,

New generations will always be different,

With some appreciating the older generations.

 

There will always be one crisis or another.

I hold no hope that life—our world—will ever be Just and Fair.

Not completely, that is.

 

Corruption breeds like bacteria.

Hardship is natural.

Crisis is imminent and ongoing.

 

After all, who would want to live,

With no setbacks?

Who would be happy,

Being perpetually happy?

Who would be happy,

In "peace"?

In a good place?

No one.

And thus, we will never be happy and in peace.

Not fully,

Not perpetually,

And that is okay.

 

Hardship makes life worth living.

Working for something—earning it—is rewarding.

No cheat codes,

No "lucky" birth.

 

I sometimes—no, I often—wish.

I wish for many things—happiness, companionship, and...struggles.

I wish—perhaps irrationally—I was lower in the chain.

I wish my depression was worse,

I wish I didn't have a "good" life,

I wish I struggled to live.

I don't know why,

But I do.

 

Perhaps...Perhaps...

 

Perhaps then I would feel deserving of the love and sympathy I seek.

 

- Lily