Smiling at Oblivion

Progress was my bedtime story. I grew up being told of a world on the rise — a world fated for justice. I saw graphs of shrinking global poverty, and of the rise of peaceful democracy. I cheered for Obama and made calls for Senator Bennet. Hope and change were more than promises to me. They were destiny.

And then I grew up.

I watched the Arab Spring fail. I watched hundreds of thousands of lives ruined in the aftermath of imperialism.

I watched the economy crash. I watched friends move away and bankers walk free.

I watched Rachel attempt suicide. I watched my friend struggle with the shackles of a hateful “family” for the crime of being different.

I watched my older peers march on Wall Street. I watched promises of unity and reform crumble into brutality and roundups.

I watched my home city burn. I watched two fires destroy hundreds of homes, and hundreds of lives. I watched climate change wreak havoc, while politicians looked the other way.

I watched old women beaten and bloodied for blocking pipelines. I watched the police serve and protect corporations, and disregard human life.

I watched the number of starving children increase. I watched the wealthiest country on earth fail to feed 16 million kids.

I watched my friend hang himself. I watched a “world class” university work him to death.

I watched Trump win the Presidency. I watched a celebrity whose chief characteristic is incompetence show the true face of the Reagan-Clinton legacy.

I watched dead fish coat the shores of Ha Tinh, Vietnam. I watched a community thousands of miles away ruined by corporate greed.

I watched Trump pull out of the climate agreement. I watched the United States commit another crime against humanity. I watched him destroy our future.

I watched my own university defend white supremacists and promote their organizations. I watched cries of free speech drown out the wailing of the oppressed.

I watched Heather Heyer die. I watched hundreds rally in defense of leftists, only to see them shunned a week later.

I watched the tax bill pass. I watched my last hopes for a stable future evaporate. I watched the hopes of the most depressed, indebted, and exploited generation in recent memory fall to dust.

I watched as the dream of progress became the nightmare of reality.

To be completely honest, I am utterly exhausted. I am so tired of begging for scraps, of protesting for basic decency. The false hopes of my youth did nothing to prepare me for an adulthood of sobering misery. And while I may be incredibly fortunate, even I am not immune to the soul sucking capitalist horror we have inherited.

Vive La Commune!

This legislation will make the rich richer and the poor poorer, in an era already marked by unprecedented inequity. It will add trillions to the deficit, and kill thousands. It will cripple the United States, and strip the already destitute young of what little wealth they have. This legislation is violence. It has no basis in morality, nor any shred of dignity. It will build a world in the image of unregulated capitalism — it will be the tyranny of the invisible hand.

My only hope arises from our desperation. My generation has the most awareness, the most humanity, and the least to lose, of any generation. If there is to be a revolution, if there is to be progress, we will stand at the forefront. But as I have said before, we will not be motivated by the ideals of our youth, nor by the shadows of “hope and change.” The shattered promise of progress will inspire rage, not reconciliation.

Those in power should be afraid. In the passage of this tax bill, they have shed their last pretense of dignity and humanity. And they will pay for these crimes.

We are living a life after progress. We stand on the edge of annihilation. And we’re woefully unprepared for the world that comes next.