bcc: [email protected]
Subject: Resignation...
Good day,
To those reading this who sway our policies and impact our culture, I hope this email finds you. I don't care what state you're in, but I hope you read this.
I give up. This 'grind' shit? Ain't for me. It's not that I'm quitting a job. Oh, no... In this economy? I'm just giving up on letting that job define me. I don't aspire to labor, and I never have, but that doesn't make me lazy. I resent the accusation. And, well, maybe I am quitting a job, but I'm finding another because I can't afford to quit work. The truth of the matter is, we don't often choose our lot in life, but I'll still be damned if I take fourth-rate living just because I'm poor.
It isn't a moral failure on my part or the part of any individual working multiple jobs, struggling to make ends meet, and unable to find time to take care of themselves. I want you to know that we aren't flawed, because you have forgotten the simple and fundamental truth that society has a moral imperative to support its members. The fact that poverty even exists on the scale it does indicates that we have failed each other. Our system of governance, based on capital and individualism, is to blame.
The joy of living should never be an expense – not to yourself, not to others, and certainly not to Terra, the first Mother we forsook. We can't commodify every aspect of what we need to survive, and not expect some form of organic retribution. So I give up pretending to think the 'grind' is for the good. I give up ignoring the distraction that 'grinding' serves. I give up acting like 'grinds' don't kill. Because we don't have much time on this earth as it is, and we should spend it with love as our currency, not woven fibers, metal cents, and fossil fuels.
While I'm at it, I give up taking the job home, because rest isn't easy, and feeling pressure to achieve can be debilitating. If a job requires me to work after I clock out, I'll quit.
I give up the idea that I need 'new,' and will try to preserve or fix what I have instead. I don't need new cars, I don't need new phones, I don't need someone to come into my home and clean all the things that prove I don't have time to clean myself. I have a roof, and I'm thankful for that, but energy to tend to it? That's in short supply.
I just need enough to be solvent, but that may be too much to ask without rescinding this letter and sacrificing my sanity. Cuz here doesn't honor the slow life. Here disapproves of the termites growing fat on the good bones of our country. You know the kind, the 'welfare queens,' that raging, harmful myth scapegoating our most vulnerable populations. If single mothers can't catch a break on WIC, what hope do I have of being seen any different?
I haven't pulled my bootstraps hard enough, so on the floor I remain, even though the origin of that saying came from the fact that you can't physically lift yourself this way alone. The irony of a saying, more in the spirit of 'Ubuntu,' I am because we are, becoming synonymous with rugged individualism, is not lost on me. I understand now that such words are a deception, so I give up thinking I can do anything without Us. Because it's not about how hard I work to make money that determines my success, and it's not how much money I manage to make with that effort that determines it either. It's the work I put into loving myself and others.
Simple, no? Maybe not, but it's much easier on the body, and all we have to save our spirit.
So I give up your lies and your legacies; I don't need them. No amount of 'grinding' I do is gonna fill gaps or mend synapses. Being remembered for glory's sake won't stop the inevitable or erase the fear of having to face it. Memory, for the sake of memory, doesn't teach us much, unless love is your legacy, but I don't see you out here even preaching it.
You conflate love with religion or your god, and take the humanity out of it.
We are human! Don't you see? We are creative, imaginative, and full of an endless capacity for love! We're not the robots you want us to be, although you have most strategically conditioned compliance amongst us. We deserve to live full lives, no matter our positionality.
So I give up. I remove myself. I quit. I object. I abstain. However you want to frame it is fine by me, but understand that you will not get another lick of labor out of me that isn't consented to, thoroughly enjoyed before promptly being forgotten, and well-compensated with a livable wage.
Consider this my two-day notice. I quit... To-day.
Best wishes,
kp
About the Creator
kp
I am a non-binary, trans-masc writer. I work to dismantle internalized structures of oppression, such as the gender binary, class, and race. My writing is personal but anecdotally points to a larger political picture of systemic injustice.
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Comments (2)
I get you kp. Ultimately you and I do have the same goals and needs and wants for ourselves and our country and at that our world. Though, we do have different views on how to get there. I am mostly about incremental progress. That being said, the ever increasing wealth gap in the US is horrifying. Yesterday, I read about Gavin Newsom’s plan for Medi-Cal. Long story short I am not happy about this. Because if his plan goes through my mom and I will lose our Medi-Cal and the soul cause major hardships of both of our lives. Mostly for the fact that we will lose all of our caregivers. I will have zero help in taking care of my mom and taking care of her is a very hard job. Yet here is the clincher while I am losing my Medi-Cal undocumented immigrants in California will be able to keep theirs for free. And you know that I am all for helping people who need asylum from a dangerous and violent country. I want to see the United States help those that truly need help. But when it comes to natural born citizens losing their safety net yet those that are here undocumented get to keep that safety net, well there’s a problem with that. So if this plan does go through I will make a lot of noise. I will do everything I possibly can to make sure that Gavin Newsom loses in the 2028 presidential primaries. I am so sorry for going on a rant like this. But I feel what I had to say here is what related to what you are saying. We are breaking our backs and we’re getting nothing for it. I get what you are saying kp and I understand it. Strong challenge entry. Your passion is felt in your words.
This is a powerful message. You're right that the 'grind' isn't all it's cracked up to be. I've felt that way too, like a job was sucking the life out of me. It's important to remember we're not defined by work. But finding a balance is tough. How do you plan to make this change in your own life? Also, I agree about society's role. We should support each other more. It makes me wonder what small steps we can all take to make that happen. Maybe start by being more understanding of those struggling to make ends meet?