I accidentally (don’t ask) stumbled into politics last year. And while I keep pointing out to all of them that I am not a politician, merely an observer, some things became clear as time (and endless issues) passed.

This is one thought I had recently: Sometimes scarcity isn’t always about what’s missing. It’s about what’s withheld. Not by accident, more like a scam. A rigged game dressed up as fate and labelled “the way things are”. We’re not meant to notice, but the con is in plain sight if you squint a bit.

You are raised to be ‘someone of note’. Get an education. Be dedicated. Follow the rules. Be the best version of yourself. Groomed into believing that putting in the effort will lead to success. But in truth, the system we’re trying to fit into is designed with a fixed mould. One that rewards conformity and penalises deviation. So while we strive to rise, the system discreetly lets us fall, proving that success isn’t about merit, it’s about fitting in.

You pour your souls into doubling your output – yet your pay cheque moves like it’s walking through mud. The bit of extra you earn dissolves into raised rent, surprise ‘service fees’, soaring municipal expenses and medical fees that feel like punishment for being mortal. They’ve turned life’s basics – shelter, healthcare, education, etc. – into tollbooths. You can pass, sure, they won’t stop you. But only if you keep feeding the meter. So you work harder, with less reward. Or rather, your reward is exhaustion.

The more you earn, the more you owe. Debt isn’t just numbers on a statement. It’s a leash. It shortens your stride; makes you think twice before quitting a bad job or speaking too loudly when something feels off. Work more. Complain less. Some call it ‘adulting’. I call it trained survival.

And your time? It’s not yours. You clock in, then clock on. Engineered to make rest feel like guilt. If you’re lucky, you have enough brain left at night to scroll and click ‘like’. Distractions that are easy to reach but impossible to attain. Does that make sense? It did in my head. Crazy how a meme can drown a crisis?

And while you’re dizzy from trying to keep up, they’ve convinced you that the problem is your co-worker, your neighbour, the immigrant that runs the shop in the neighbourhood, the ‘lazy’ stranger – anyone but the system. They teach blame like a language we never asked to learn.

The real trick? This con isn’t about your money. They don’t need that. They need a population too tired, too indebted and self-absorbed to realise that things don’t have to be this way. They need you focused on nothing bigger than the next bill that’s due.

Caring about the world – whether it’s your own street or a country you’ll never see – was never supposed to be a luxury.

So this bit of rambling is dedicated to seeing it not as your fate, but for what it is: a game rigged so only the powerful win.