Capitalism. My society is based on it. The government claims that there is no class system in Canada, but our class system is the most salient aspect of our society; especially for those of us in the lower classes. Sociologists describe my society as a pyramid, with a small percentage of people, the ones with the most money, property, and prestige, at the top. These are the executives, the Chief Executive Officers of the major banks and oil companies. And, for some odd reason, the ones who get the most tax breaks from the government are found at the top of the pyramid.
Mid-way down we find the middle class, these are the people who are not executives, but are managers, business owners, and entrepreneurs. Not as many tax breaks, but a lot of other freedoms such as yearly vacations, hefty retirement packages, and annual raises.
Then, at the very bottom of the money pile, we have the lower class. Some people refer to these people as crabs in a bucket, when one crab is just about to escape the confines of the glass ceiling; all the other crabs pull them back into the fray. Those of us in the lower class are forced to feed off whatever money trickles through the crack in the ceiling, or floor however you want to look at it. Among us are welfare recipients, laborers, admin assistants, office workers stuck in a cubicle, and post secondary students!
And just to make some feel better, a class in the upper echelons of the lower class was formed; in which, teachers, small business owners, and blue-collar workers are all vying for that little kick that would push them through the glass ceiling and into middle class society. I am on the bottom of the pile. A crab forced to survive off what little makes its way to my microcosm after being filtered through the rest of the food chain. But I am not a victim of circumstance; my position in society is not my fate. As a post secondary student I feel I have the wits to dodge the pincers of those crabs around me, and I have the strength to break the glass that hangs over head to truly be free from the life I’ve lived for, well, my whole life. I took it upon myself to take the necessary steps to make a better life for my family and me. There wasn’t anyone who pushed me to do it. I was proactive. After all, the last thing those in the upper classes want to see is a crab tarnishing their Alpaca covered floor!
And now that I stand on the cusp of breaking free from my previous life, and exploding onto the scene of my newly convocated life, I have been charged with proving that I am not a worthless peon, a drone meant only to make the rich richer, and the powerful more powerful. I am not a worthless peon who’s destiny it is to only enrich other people’s lives. As a post-secondary student, my peers and I are not leaving it up to others to determine the trajectory of our lives. We have a target and we’re aiming for it. One aspect that you might argue is that most of us, myself included, are living off student loans which come from the government, and, therefore, is still crab food. To that I say we pay it back. Every single penny, or soon to be nickel (they are considering abolishing the penny because it takes more than a penny to make a penny), plus more, will be given back. Restorative justice. We give it back because it wouldn’t be fair to all the other crabs who take their lives into their own pincers. In short, I am not a worthless peon because I am proactive.
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