This is a story about the same country, America. A country where depending on where your're born, your skin color and how much money you have will determine your fate.
When D'Andre was 5 years old his mom was busy working a full-time job and money was short, D'Andre often found himself having to entertain himself and would often spend many hours in front of the tv. When dinner came often times he would be eating hotdogs and box mac and cheese, thats all his mother could afford.
When Jeffery was 5 years old his parents took him on a vacation Disney land and to the beach. His parents then enrolled Jeffery into private pre-school for gifted children. His parents paid tutors to help Jeffery learn to read and write. Jeffery also got to try out many sports, collecting gear for T-Ball, football and horseback riding. Jeffery ate a balanced diet of the freshest salads, meats and cheeses money could buy.
When D'Andre was 10 years old he was walking to school and got jumped by a group of boys who ran off with his backpack for of his school books. The next day D'Andrew was scared so he took a different route to school and ended up late for class. The teacher gave D'Andre detention for being late. While in detention D'Andre got yelled at for being irresponsible. Later that week D'Andre failed his English class because his books and homework were stollen the week prior.
When Jeffery was 10 years old the tire on car on his ride to school got a flat. His driver and bodyguard asked Jeffery to stay in the car so he would be safe why they called AAA. Jeffery was late to school and the teacher asked Jeffery about his Heroic experience of dealing with a flat tire and the class was thrilled with the story. Later on the teacher reminded Jeffery's parents to buy tickets for the class trip to Paris, London and Venice, a trip Jeffery was looking forward to. At the end of the day Jefferys teacher told him that someday he is going to run the world.
When D'Andre was 15, one of his friends started to dig into his pocket and pulled out a joint of weed. D'Andre took a puff of it and burst out laughing. Suddenly a police officer came around the corner and was yelling at them to put their hands up. D'Andre found himself in Juvenile Hall where he was taken in front of a judge and told how irresponsible and reckless he is and he now has a criminal record and will need to do 100 hours of community service.
When Jeffery was 15, one of his friends started to dig into his pocket and pulled out a joint of weed. Jeffery took a puff of it and burst out laughing. Suddenly a police officer came around the corner. The officer took the weed from Jefferies hand and put it on the ground and put it out with his shoe. He looked at Jeffery and told him young men like him shouldn't do that. He then called Jefferies parents and said “I caught your son smoking weed, but I can tell he's a good kid and don't let it happen again.”
When D'Andre was 16 his mother told him he needed to get a job because they were at risk of being homeless. D'Andre got a job at the local mcdonalds. His first week on the job the restaurant got held up and D'Andre's wallet was taken. D'Andre ended up getting another job as a janitor and ended up dropping out of school so he could support his mother and little sister.
When Jeffery was 16 his parents bought him his first car, a Mercedes. To celebrate his birthday his parents also planned to fly to Europe to ski in the Alps. While in the ski lodge Jeffery got kissed by a cute girl he met in the lodge.
When D'Andre was 18 he was managing three part-time jobs and due to a recent rent hike his mother and himself were in the process of an eviction. While he was walking home late one night a police cruiser pulled up next to him and the officer asked him for ID and told him that a suspicious person matching his description was just reported for doing a robbery.
When Jeffery was 18 he thrilled. He was accepted into the same prestigious university as his father. His parents bought him a condo next to the school so he could walk to class. His father also told him how import it was for him join a Fraternity so his father made a $25,000 donation to the Fraternity. The local news station ran a short later that week about the “Future leaders of America” and Jeffery was shown in a suit and tie cutting a red ribbon signaling the start of the school year.
When D'Andre was 20, he was at a party and had one beer. He driving home later that night and got pulled over for reports of “suspicious activity”. When the officer got to window he said he smelled Marijuana. D'Andre hadn't been smoking that night or even that month and told the officer. The officer then said he smelled Alcohol and was arresting D'Andre for a DUI. D'Andre was taken to the jail, thrown in a cell, given $20K bail charge or he could wait a month for trail. D'Andre couldn't afford the bail and ended up having to wait in jail.
When Jeffery was 20, he got blackout drunk with with Fraternity friends. Waking up and realizing they were out of beer they pilled into his Mercedes. The car was all over the road and then suddenly they slammed into the back of a station wagon. A woman could be seen knocked out in the front and a child could be heard crying in the back seat. Jeffery got out of his and yelled at them for damaging his Mercedes and how much of a waste of oxygen they were. Police rolled up and Jefferies lawyer met them at the police station. The next morning Jeffery was sitting at class. He got a text from his father that the Law firm had sorted everything out and he has nothing to worry about, love dad.
D'Andre was now 25. He had just got done with a 5 hour shift cleaning toilets at the local truck stop and was on to his second part-time job as a merchandise stocker at the local megamart. His back was hurting so he leaned on the counter for about a min to rest. His supervisor walked up to him and asked him to come to the office. “I saw you leaning, if you have time to lean you have time to clean, here's a written warning. You get another one and your lazy ass is fired. “. The his supervisor started to say “People like you are lazy and its your fault you're poor, if you worked harder you wouldn't be in this situation”. Later that week D'Andre was sick and went to the bathroom twice in an hour to throw up and spent longer than two minuites. His supervisor was watching from the store Cameras and called up D'Andre to the office. He fired D'Andre for taking longer than 5 minuites to use the restroom on company time. Before getting fired D'Andre's supervisor lectured him for 30 minuites about how to get ahead in life and he said you need to answer every call, you need to come in early and you need to stay late. You should work on your days off for the company and eventually your hard work might pay off you might get promoted to level II. Level II paid .25 cents more per hour.
Jeffery was now 25. He just arrived to a large building downtown, got into the elevator, grabbed a company provided starbucks and a bagel and some smoked salmon from the cafeteria on the first floor. Getting onto the elevator to go to the 35th floor, the door opened and he greeted his secretary telling her to hold all calls until 12 he had something important to do. Jeffery poured himself a glass of whiskey and started looking at various watches for sale. He found himself a very rare Rolex and decided he'd gift himself that for his birthday. Then he traded a few stocks. Called his father saying he was bored and asked if he wanted to go skiing in europe, tuesday morning. Jefferies phone rang, he stormed out of his office yelling at his secretary that he said no calls. She said sorry but it was one of the managers with a very important proble…. Jeffery cut her off, “I said no calls, they'll figure it out. I'm leaving for the day”. Jeffery then took a uber to private terminal at the airport. He didn't have to go through security and had a chef's omelete and some caviar while the fueled up his jet. While waiting to take off he text his secretary that he was taking the rest of the week off and to block out his calendar as Out of the Office. In the air Jeffery was talking about buying another vacation home and how the city /government needs to do something about the traffic because he shouldn't have to wait 30 minutes in traffic to get home and time is money for Jeffery.
Question
If we're all D'Andre, whats the point of even trying in a system like this? It just feels like slavery but with more steps. I'm really struggling with the forced participation of an unequal and unfair system. This is just for discussion and I am not advocating or suggesting that anyone opt out.
This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this post are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.