Modern society is designed from the ground up to favor the high-functioning sociopaths who only care about themselves but blend in well enough to seek powerful positions. Because those people are the ones who will strive to get those positions of power, while also simultaneously being willing to step on others to accomplish it. An old saying went along the lines of “anyone who would actually be elected president should be barred from the office.” But this also goes for smaller spheres of influence too. CEOs, church leaders, etc… It’s possible for a good person to get that position, but it’s more likely that they’ll be shoved out of the way by someone with fewer principles.

The single largest determining factor for your future earning potential is which ZIP code you were born in. We can predict, with an extremely high degree of accuracy, how much a child will make when they grow up… Simply by looking at where they were born and raised. Because wealthy parents raise wealthy children. Your parents’ income is a glass ceiling that eclipses all others.

You could develop a horrific disease or disability tomorrow. And if you do, a surprising amount of your “friends” will abandon you because you are a constant reminder their just world outlook is a giant sack of bullshit.

Everything that lives dies, eventually

Even the person you trust the most can betray you.

There is no karma. There is no fairness in this world. And justice is mostly bullshit.

It can always get worse, so be happy with what you’ve got,

Some of the things I’ve found it hard to come to terms with:

Rules and laws are applied inconsistently and unfairly

Nothing is permanent and someday nothing I’ve ever done will matter

Not everyone will get to achieve their goals in life

Not everyone will find love

There is always a possibility that someday I will live under a fascist regime

There is no way to know in advance what day some crazy, life-changing, or worl-changing events will happen

My dad is still working on accepting that I’m not going to be able to work an enjoyable job in my life lol.

No one is out to get you , people are out for themselves.

It is always better to figure out life’s problems by yourself or with the help of those around you, their is no supernatural being available to grant your prayer wishes.

You have to do it yourself.

Land ownership. We just have to accept that most of the earth is ‘owned’ by people who have no natural right to it whatsoever, they just happened to be born wealthy and so part of the planet that we all have to live on belongs to them.

There are people where I live who are now wealthy because the unfarmable strips of wasteland they’ve somehow inherited have recently had wind farms installed them, who pay them rent. Through no innovation or intelligence of their own, they are now rich. How is that fair?

There are no divine guard rails, we really can be obliterated whether we do it to ourselves or the universe sneezes on us.

• Democracy is not a birthright, and each generation has a duty (starting to themselves) to be educated and informed, in order to vote regularly and responsibly. Too many citizens who fail to perform that duty mean that eventually such democracy will crumble.

• Capitalism is a heartless tyrant at the end of the day, willing to mindlessly destroy everything around it in the sheer, relentless pursuit of lucre. This is why a strong system of checks and regulations must always exist to prevent it from spinning out of control.

Those are both of my phrasings above, and I owe many people before me for helping me properly understand these things, and to keep improving on them.

Taking action on climate change is a test if democracies can do things in the general interest at all, and up to now we’ve been failing