PISSED OFF!!

I really enjoyed Sylvain Marcoux's blog entry about his take on the Occupy Wall Street movement. I thought other (English-speaking)people might enjoy it too, so with the man's blessing, I translated it and am posting it here. If you're interested, you can read the original here. Otherwise...

I had just spent the night working on a small contract (“small” describes the salary – not the actual workload). I was about to get breakfast ready for my kids but logged into facebook… only to find someone bitching about the Occupy Wall Street movement.  My blood boiled over and this is what came out…

Why do I support the Occupy movement?

- Because my wife and I work our asses off and get very little in return.

- Because we’re a small family and the aforementioned work gets in the way of the time we spend with our kids.

- Because our budget is very quickly becoming a financial labyrinth.

- Because our schedules work around finding a way to put food on the table.

- Because we’re not the only ones stuck in this situation.

I guess we COULD cut our budget. We COULD make some sacrifices.

We don’t need to buy so much food. Are 3 meals a day really necessary?

We don’t need to go out so much. Why spend family time actually DOING things with our kids?

We don’t need so many clothes. Why buy new jeans when there’s a perfectly good pair from 2009 that still fits?

We don’t need to use so much electricity. Our clothes from 2009 are still pretty warm, right?

No! We’re tired…

We’re tired of seeing people getting married at Versailles. Tired of seeing people book a wee-long trip on Virgin Galactic because it’s “something to do”. Tired of seeing nepotism in action… or is that inaction? Tired of seeing governments cut social programs and services that are already out of reach to most people. Tired of seeing friends and family dying of cancer that drops from the sky or hides in our food. Tired of hearing our son asking, “Why do you work all the time?”. Tired of explaining to potential employers that there’s a gap in our résumé because we wanted to stay home with our kids. Tired of hearing that we’re the reason the economy is melting down… because we aren’t buying enough crap. Tired of hearing the top 1% tell us that we don’t work hard enough. Tired… Just sick and TIRED OF IT ALL!

I’m not on the Right. I’m not on the Left… There is no left or right anymore, crooked politicians are making those lines disappear. I’m PISSED OFF! 

I support the Occupy movement because I’m pissed off and it’s showing me that I’m not alone.

Can you hear me? Can you hear how pissed off I am? Can you hear all those people, out in the street as you read this? Can you hear how pissed off they are? Can you hear the wind blowing through the wrought iron gates at the end of your mansion’s driveway?

Can you?