Hard Things

[ysabetwordsmith]

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do?

Comments

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Any kind of subsidized housing is a zillion times worse. Of course it's abusive. Landlords routinely do illegal things, counting on the fact that few people can afford to sue them, and when it happens it's just the cost of doing business.

Basically what it means is someone else holds your life hostage. The same happens with jobs that won't give you a schedule and health plans that require you to be accessible on demand at any time. You lose your ability to make any plans in advance, to take care of other people reliably, to attend important life events, to make appointments anywhere else -- to make promises at all, really. It's evil. People don't see it.

They do see the effects, but most folks don't realize where those problems are coming from. That their friends are unreliable because it has been taken from them. That they're depressed, anxious, or otherwise unhappy because they are being abused. All of that eats away at both the practical and psychological functionality of society.

Re: Well ...

[technoshaman]

Welp, be it known that the Karma Kannon has been fired. (I just sent the city's electrical permit inspection people an email detailing the problem.) I may have a few more rounds before I'm done...

And I don't intend to let my *new* city government - or anyone else around me - get away with that shit if I can help it. Despite the number of zeroes on my paycheque I don't have a hell of a lot more than most people but I do have a few things: Enough to share sometimes, a damn fine community that has my back, and the fact that I pass for a member of the Dominant Paradigm Class.... I intend to use all of those *shamelessly*. All I want in return is a better world for *everyone*... which will include me, of course, but a me that is not just comfortable but *surrounded by happy people*. 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wish'd.

Re: Well ...

[technoshaman]

BANG! The inspector already got back to me. Dunno where it'll go from here, but DAMN I'm gonna miss having good city government. Time to get on building some new soon enough.

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

One obvious course of action is that, any time people are getting screwed, you have a ready pool of potential activists waiting to be organized. In cases of institutional abuse, the target populations tend to be low in resources including activist skills. But it's like seeding clouds, once you add that information, things can happen.

Re: Well ...

[technoshaman]

Ooooers.

Re: Well ...

[alexseanchai]

You lose your ability to [...] make promises at all

*stares in everything just clicked together*

Re: Well ...

[technoshaman]

.... wow, yeah. It's a deliberate attempt to deny us the ability to form community, which gives us our power. Nekulturniy degeneraty (Russki or no). We will be present at their funerals.

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I have been harping on this a while because it's one cluster in a wider pattern of social decay. People are forcibly deprived of control over their own lives, and then blamed for that as if it is a personal failing.

Much the same happens with being late or unable to reach an appointment.

* If someone is sick or injured and in need of care, they might move slower and have a harder time getting there.

* If they rely on public transportation, they're at the mercy of a system that isn't obligated to run on time, or at all really.

* If someone else has to drive them and that person flakes (or gets called into work) then no ride.

* If the construction job that was supposed to be done in a week takes two and clogs traffic, *everyone* going that route is now late.

* If someone has kids and the sitter is late, now that parent is late, because you can't leave kids unattended.

And somehow that means you don't deserve health care anymore, or any other type of appointment. I've seen a few exceptions where people had a good policy about appointment mishaps, but most of them are downright abusive now. How is it okay to fine someone $50 and tell them never to return, because the goddamn bus was late? That shoots help-seeking behavior right in the head.

And then they wonder why people "don't want help."

Society is broken, and the broken pieces grind together, and most folks just don't understand why everything sucks so much.