Different World

"We've been chasing our demons down an empty road

Been watching our castle turning into dust

escaping our shadows just to end up here once more

and we both know

This is not the world we had in mind

But we got time

We are stuck on answers we can't find

But we got time."

Different World by Sofia Carson and Alan Walker

In the video, Sofia is talking about pollution of the earth. She shares videos of land and ocean being filled with trash or oil spills, with a video clipping of one of her fans giving a speech about fixing our pollution problem. Out of all the pictures shown, the scariest one to me was of a blue whale washed up on a shore with hundreds of pounds of trash inside of its mouth and belly.

As heartbreaking and terrifying that is to know of how our Earth is being treated, I wanna approach a different view to this song.

We struggle daily in this life. we struggle to put our past behind us, at least those of us who had a bad past. We struggle to make our dreams come true. We struggle to find someone we can trust in our lives and with our kids. We struggle to live our life as comfortable as possible.

I'll start with the last statement first. Struggling to live our life as comfortable as possible. Why is that? Money! We can say all we want that money doesn't buy happiness, but, in a way, it does. How? It takes money to put a roof over our heads. It takes money to put food in our stomachs. It takes money to put clothes on our bodies. It takes money to pay for medicine that is needed to keep us healthy and alive. Back in the day, $300 would buy a whole cart full, or two weeks worth, of groceries. Now, you'll be lucky if that covers a week. Back in the day, houses were easier and reasonable to buy. Now, you have to pay for an application fee per adult, plus background checks, with no guarantees that you will get the house. Which also means that the money you spent on those fees and background checks was wasted, and you can't get it back. That is money that could have gone on groceries or bills or gas. The prices of houses are ridiculous. People are wanting over $200,000 for just a two bedroom. A lot of Americans can't afford to own their own homes. like me. We are stuck renting, and even rental prices are getting higher. We can't be comfortable, because we are struggling to get what we need to be comfortable.

Stuggle to find who we can trust: it used to be that you could trust everyone in your family. When you made friends, they become your friend for life. You can walk down the street at any time of the day and not have to look over your shoulder. You can have sleepovers. You can go out with your friends without parents or adult supervision, because you were given rules, and you obeyed. Now, you can't trust anyone hardly. Family members abandon you. Friends talk bad about you behind your back. Your neighbors are sketchy. Too many people are just looking to come in and destroy what you have. It is much safer to stay within your tiny bubble.

Struggle to make your dreams come true: thousands of people have aspirations to become teachers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, businessmen and women. Why is it hard? Cost of colleges and universities are a lot. You could be lucky to get a scholarship or a grant. But, even that doesn't cover the cost of everything. Henceforth, you will, then, need to get a loan. For most of the degrees, you need to get some practicum hours. Meaning you need to find someone who is willing to be your "mentor". Guess what, if you can't find one, there goes your dream. And you still have to pay your loans. That is what happened to me. I was aiming to be a secondary education English teacher. I was four classes away from student teaching, but I couldn't find a mentor. Goodbye teaching. GCU didn't want me to go away without getting a degree. I tried for sociology...four classes away...no mentor and couldn't get any more loans for anything else. No money to pay back loans, so now in debt from that. It is hard to achieve your dreams, forcing you to do something else.

Struggle to put past behind us: many of us, unfortunately, have suffered from abuse, neglect, depression, and many other problems. It is hard to struggle through it. Once it is finally over, we struggle to feel normal. We struggle to find someone we can trust. We struggle to find someone to love. When we manage to find someone, we struggle to keep it, because we are scared that our past is going to repeat itself.

Struggles are a daily occurrence. The reality is that it gets even harder when inflation, criminals, and everything else is added to it. This is definitely not the world we had in mind. But we can change it. We can find ways to get prices back to reasonable. We can work to make our lives and our dreams come true.

WE GOT TIME!!!