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Modern Day Slavery

Note : This article was written based on a Youtube video I found pertaining to the same topic. The information obtained from the video are written here in hopes that some would find it helpful or useful, and who knows, perhaps it can change lives. Credit goes to the video owner.

We currently live in a time unlike any other. Technology is changing at an ever evolving rate, making things like lifespan and health itself more accessible to most of the world, as well as bringing our cultures and societies, for the most part, together as one. We are slowly but surely unifying into a very utopian species. But this westernization and growing global society also tends to be taking its toll mainly on our income. Income inequality is skyrocketting at a rate it never has before in known human history. And this effectibly is leaving the average family and the average citizen low on money, and essentially hung out to dry. And because of this income inequality, almost all people are being forced into a new line of 21st century slavery. And this is known as Wage Slavery.

Unlike Chattel Slavery which took place decades ago, wage slavery is a much more hidden form of slavery. This is due to the fact that it is based off of money. The systems that surround us kinda fooled us into thinking that we need certain things or if we didn't have certain things, we weren't really living life. This led to things costing more but us getting paid the same amount of money. A wage slave, very simply put, is somebody who requires and relies on a sole company or a place they work to fuel their existence. To pay for their rent, their food and their health, and their money comes from this one source. A photographer that runs his own business, travels and takes pictures, that's a free man. But a restaurant manager who is solely reliant on his 9 to 5 job to pay his mortgage and to help feed his kids, that is a wage slave.

In the past, titles meant something. To be an executive officer. To be a manager. To be a big, bold, brash name wherever you worked meant that you will be fine. It meant that you had the income to live up to these titles. But that is not the case anymore. As rent, food and commodities continue to rise in price and our payment stays the same, we find ourselves unable to afford the things we have been able to afford our whole lives. And the biggest problem with this wage slavery came and comes in the form of credit cards. Banks giving us credit to borrow their money, but pay them back in interest. So if you borrow RM100 from your bank and make that RM100 back in a month, you now owe them RM103. So you technically lost money simply because you were borrowing it. And this takes a toll on a lot of people and is why the majority of western culture in the world is in debt. Essentially, even when we think these systems exist to help us out, to make our lives better, they usually don't.

So many companies these days require these skills that we have no way of attaining as beginners going into a workforce. But there is one sector of work that doesn't. Corporations. Corporations feed off the innocent with no work skills because they know they can draw them in to the position of not being able to get out. And this is why so many people are forced to end up working these minimum wage hourly jobs where they don't want to work because they are at a point already where they have to have this money to survive or to continue living the life they want. It's a system where even when you are promoted, your pay may go up a thousand or two thousand ringgit a year, yet you are gaining hundreds of more hours of responsibilities. These are systems with no room for professional growth or development in our personal lives or in our business lives. This lack of development is what changes it from a job to a form of slavery. When they ask or tell you to do something, you really don't have the opinion or the possibility to actually be an individual and say "no". If you do say no, more likely than not, they will cast you aside, they will fire you and they will find somebody to replace you who will comply. That is wage slavery. That is what fuels a system where they can get away with anything they want.

I for one, am fortunate enough to have a job but also fortunate enough to have a cushion and a great, loving family to lay back on, and know that if anything ever went wrong, I would be alright. But many of my friends and people i've grown up knowing, especially in the places I have been in life, haven't had this opportunity. They had been stuck in a place where if they made one mistake, that's it. They will be done for, they would have nowhere else to turn. And that's a scary thing. So this begs the question : How do we escape this system? How do we remove ourselves from wage slavery?

Well, according to some research I made, there is a way. There are 3 simple but necessary tips we can follow to actually liberate ourselves from this modern day slavery.
  • You MUST live below what you earn. Spend less than what you make, even at your minimum wage jobs. Budget everything you do. Cut costs extensively
  • Earn more than what you have. Find new ways to supply income to your life. Do something more in your personal time to make more money. Take a second/part-time job. Sell products or services online. If you are good with art, music, poetry or anything else, try to turn it into a profession or a source of income. Make what you do a commodity you can live off.
  • Patience. This is the key. Step by step and daily action is important. It takes time. It just doesn't happen overnight. Whether it be tomorrow or 5 years from now, with patience and determination, it will happen
Everyone's life and their chance to make it out of the system they may be stuck in right now will be different. And it will not be as easy as someone else's. When you finally break free from the shackles of slavery, you will get to live your life the way you want to. You will be financially comfortable. You will no longer be a wage slave. I have yet to try this out myself. I'm not sure if I can, considering the circumstances right now. But I hope I would one day find the strength to pull this off and finally call myself a free man!

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