I'm 40 and going through a major midlife crisis. No savings, no hope for a higher paid job than entry level despite two degrees. The thought of having to do this for 25 more years is debilitating.
My votes don't matter because the parties I vote for are consistently below the 10% threshold needed to get representation. Meanwhile, life gets worse year after year and the goddamn far right gets more votes every election.
Most of us are utterly doomed to serfdom at best and near-chattel slavery at worst. Someone make it make sense, because I sure can't.
My mum survived a civil war in her native land, raised without an education, survived a husband who wouldn't let her work for her own pension, survived the divorce and the lack of safety net, got an education, gets paid peanuts at work whilst watching people more underqualified than her get promoted, gets treated like shit, and still comes home every day smiling.
Her philosophy: "We could all literally go at any time. Might as well enjoy the present."
Your mother is made of stronger stuff than I am. I have no issues admitting this.
But we also shouldn't just accept living off the crumbs the elite sweep off their tables. All of us, your mother definitely included, deserve better than that.