I am 25, unemployed, single, and I live at home with my parents. I am a loser. Now, I could justify being a loser by saying it’s because I have a mental health problem and if I didn’t have it I would be “normal” and probably employed, but that’s besides the point. In the US, the political right talks about hard work and lifting yourself up by the bootstrap and the left talks about equality. To be honest – I don’t work that hard and to be honest – I am a straight, White, cis-sex male with upper middle class parents who are willing to support me. About a billion people on Earth don’t even have access to electricity. I don’t have it that bad. I am not super disadvantaged, so I can’t say it’s because I come from a disadvantaged background. I am just a loser.
There are countless other losers out there, and nobody hears their stories. White men who have nothing to cry about. They can’t cry about racism or sexism. They are maybe unmotivated and/or they have a mental health problem. They aren’t justified. Right now, I am one of these people.
If I could wave a magic wand and have anything I could ever want, I would have a beautiful wife, a home in an urban area, two beautiful kids, and a stable job that I love. Instead I can’t hold a job, I struggle mentally, and I can’t get sex or a relationship regardless of how much effort I put in. I am one of the left behind people. Left behind by the left and the right.
But I don’t have it that bad. On the streets there are other people with mental problems who are homeless. There are people with real problems. Then there’s me. I can’t do much right now other than wait for a job interview (trust me – I applied to almost everything), so I might as well be happy.
John Reed For President 