You know that feeling of not being welcomed?

Not being as good and pretty as others are?

No matter how much people tell you that it is fine, you have your own beauty, you understand things in your own way and at your own pace, you do need to be like them, but at the end of the day, you stare up at the ceiling and then you realize that still... you are never enough.

Sucks right?

At a family reunion, the family members started talking about Jim going into law school, about Ana going to Med School, and then there's you. A college dropout or someone whose grades are slipping. You are seen differently, and then they all start treating you as a disgrace or someone who has lost their soul and needs to be redeemed. What's worse is that you think you're the only hope for your other cousins who are not as gifted as your favorite ones, and you failed to give them an example or a little ray of hope.

Helplessness..

This was always the scenario I saw on various social media platforms. Typically, this comes from former top middle school students who have burned out on college. Those who had constantly set the bars high, and people expected them to still do it in institutions where standards had been changed. And from those "eldest" members of the family who have been carrying the burden of graduating on time and getting a good job in order to pull the family from the locks of poverty. Children who are being treated as an investment or retirement plan.

Yes. This is a reality. To some people, this might sound absurd. But if you come from a barely surviving family or a group of people who belong to a marginalized sector, being sent to school is already a privilege. Being able to have a good phone is already a privilege. And being able to graduate from college is considered a privilege, not a right.

This is somewhat of a toxic culture. A student's upbringing is constantly putting pressure on them. They're made for that, and they're made to be capable of handling that. Which is so sad. It is so very very unfortunate on their part. Especially when you see them being pained in that situation, they don't have any choice but to continue doing that because, along with the mindset of being able to cut the chain of poverty, they were also raised with the mindset that a family never abandons its own kind. That's because blood should always be thicker than water. Be thicker than your dreams of yourself.

Resolutions

So for all those people who are experiencing this kind of situation, Be brave. I would not tell you that everything will be OK in time, because time won't do all the work. You will. You will be the one who has to work for your own wealth because you have none to inherit. You will be the one who will pioneer your future family's fortune. You will be the one who will break the chains of inappropriate discipline and toxic norms in the family. And it may sound like too much on your part, but it will be worth it.

Someday, your grandchildren may thank you for taking the first step toward changing the world in unprecedented ways. And as always, if you won't commit to doing so, there will always be someone who's going to do the job for you. It might not be now, but someday there will be someone who's brave enough to deal with it. As long as it is not okay, there will always be attempts to abolish and change it for the betterment of the majority.

As the popular saying goes, if you were born poor, that isn't your fault. However, if you die poor, that is already your fault. But I would like to add a little to that. Dying poor cannot only be seen in the context of wealth, it can also be seen in how well you lived your life. Were you fulfilled or were you able to become happy before you met your end?

I hope you could say yes to this question when the proper hour comes, this is again, your Angel, Thain. See you on the Next Article!

Keep Safe always. You are loved.