This is not the country I thought I knew. I grew up believing in equality, fairness, and working hard to get ahead. I went to college (it was affordable then). I got a job. I worked hard. I was promoted. I got married. I had two children. We bought a house (it was also affordable, even though it seemed crazy expensive). I was oblivious to my white privilege and the plight of others. I was not politically aware or active. At work, I noticed that company leaders did not have the same values I did. Most of them did not care about equality, fairness, or working hard. Or even the long-term health of the businesses they were running. They believed in one thing - money. And they wanted more. More for themselves. More profits for their corporate overlords. We downsized. We rightsized. We looked for efficiencies. I worked more hours. Everyone worked more hours. There were layoffs. Here’s a story for you. I was in a leadership role with a company that I will not name here, but they were a larger group that acquired other companies. We had a leadership meeting where I and all the other leaders were tasked with improving our bottom line. We were cutting expenses, and our biggest expense was people. It’s not that the company was not profitable. It was. But they wanted more. The current profits weren’t good enough for leadership bonuses and to keep Wall Street happy. So, we made a plan to lay off every single employee in one of our six processing centers. Still not good enough - our target profit margin was still just out of reach. Now, each of those six centers had a receptionist who was barely making enough money to get by. The receptionist in my center was supporting her disabled mother with her paycheck. She was pleasant, a hard worker, and good at her job - always willing to lend a hand where needed. Someone in our cost-cutting group wanted to lay off the receptionists to help get to our goal. It seemed so petty to me, especially because the total amount those receptionists made was probably less than the salary of any one person on that leadership team that was deciding their fate. I suggested an alternative. I suggested that we give up our bonuses that year instead of laying off the receptionists - same savings and people kept their jobs. The look of horror on the executive’s faces was both disappointing and morally sickening. The receptionists were laid off, and we kept our bonuses. I resigned a few months later. And that scenario of greed at the top with no empathy for regular line workers played out again and again at every job I took. CEOs were making more and more and caring about their employees less and less. More cuts. More greed. More wannabe billionaires. The people who made it to the top were almost always the most cutthroat, the least compassionate, the greediest. With such entitled attitudes, they did not mind lying if it got them what they wanted. I couldn’t wait to retire. And 2½ years ago, the very minute I was eligible for Medicare, I retired. The burnout was real. I could not engage in the broken system another minute. I planned to relax, garden, quilt, and enjoy life. Oh, how my expectations have changed.