Do you ever wonder how we got here? And why majority of people lack basic virtues: kindness, empathy, care? I wonder what made us so numb and dumb. It cannot be just the phones. It has to be something more. Let’s get into it.

Everyone talks about big cities, safe cities, impressive skyscrapers (as if a skyscraper could ever be impressive) but nobody ever talks about people who built those places, who built entire cities and systems, as if these places are just being brought from thin air. And as if the workforce behind it is invisible. It’s not. These people work so hard, you cannot fathom how hard these people wok, endless shifts, cramped accommodation, heat, cold, wind and rain. But who actually stops and thinks about them? Most of them left their families behind, most likely to be the only member to actually earn money, and for most of them, life is harsh. They had to leave their country to risk everything and come into a foreign land just to build stuff for other people who won’t even notice them or acknowledge their hard work. They risk their lives every day, knowing damn well that if something happens to them, the employer will rarely inform the family properly, often they will send their remains in a coffin if even that much.

Not to mention the way they are treated by their employers. They are treated like nothing, like a number, like an item. More often than not, they would withhold their passports, so they cannot leave the country. Of course, this applies to the most of Middle Eastern countries, it’s not like this everywhere you go but it’s not that great either.

My question is and will forever remain why we tend to forget that actual humans with feelings, with people who love them, care for them are part of our society as much as we are? Where is our basic empathy? Where did it go? And it’s not only construction workers I’m talking about, but also the delivery people, cashiers, cleaners, loaders, cooks, waiters and waitresses. I’m certain that empathy didn’t go away with social media and phones absorbing our brains, it went away long before that.

Social media certainly made sure that the empathy disappears faster than it should, but I think it disappeared with class definition. We have CEO’s, managers, millionaires, politicians, and all of them feel entitled. To something. To what exactly? To fair treatment, to empathy, to care and acceptance? And what makes them more human and more deserving of respect and what makes a construction worker/cleaner/cashier not? We can live without politicians, managers, CEO’s but we CANNOT live without essential workers. We cannot live without trash cleaners, nurses, workers, waiters, doctors, surgeons. Rich people are not essential to us. They contribute nothing to our society. Essential workers do.

But who made themselves important and others not? Rich people. They made essential workers work for them, so they can be richer and workers poorer. All of this without basic empathy, with low pay and slaver’s mindset.

Life without essential workers = a sick, dirty, unfunctional society. Life without millionaires = community mindset, empathy, selfless society.

Is it achievable? Yes, it is. Will it be hard to achieve? Yes, with so many evil people in power. But, they forget one thing: we are the people WITH power.