“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” - Socrates

  • sobchak@programming.dev
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    17 hours ago

    Kinda weird it says they’re happy, yet don’t appear to have the motivation to pick up the trash around their trailer, and seem to be coping with their situation with drugs.

    • agent_nycto@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      I see someone’s lived a privileged life and never lived in a poor neighborhood.

      So, in wealthy neighborhoods, it’s not that people are cleaner and therefore somehow better than poor people. They actually have people to clean up the streets and yards for them. They also aren’t as crowded and don’t have as many shops near where they live. In poor neighborhoods, people can’t afford to hire people to clean up their yard and streets, there’s more people so there’s more of a chance someone is a jerk and litters, and there’s more shops so more people who don’t live there come in and also potentially litter. It’s an uphill battle to do it yourself all the time, so yeah, sometimes garbage drifts into your yard.

      You ignored how clean and tidy the inside of their trailer is, where they have more control over their environment.

      You’re exactly the kind of person who could learn a lesson from this comic but it goes right over your head.

      • sobchak@programming.dev
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        13 hours ago

        Meh, I’ve lived similarly (trailer parks, a garage, slum apartments, etc) and know people that still do live similarly. It can be quite stressful and demoralizing struggling to just try to meet your basic needs. I’m not really trying to pass judgement, I just found it strange the artist included things that could be seen as contradicting the narrative. I haven’t met anyone that was happy living like this, and it really takes a toll on people.

        Well, I guess I have met some people in a small commune-like thing living in sheds, an old broken down school-bus, etc. They seemed “ok” with stuff like dumpster-diving for most of their food. They were definitely not the norm though, and were fortunate to have free housing/land that couldn’t really be taken away.

    • paultimate14@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      I’ve seen plenty of people who seem fully functional to an outside observer. Nice clean clothes, well-spoken, full-time job running in the rat race, own a house in the suburbs. You notice their car is parked in the driveway, not the garage because it’s a hoarder house. I’ve cleaned out multiple hoarder houses in my day, and they were all in really “nice” suburban neighborhoods with no trash in the outside.

      I also know plenty of people who are perfectly happy and functional but are known to leave the occasional plastic bag or empty bottle lying around. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re depressed. Not to mention some of that “trash” is probably being recelycled. That coffee can is almost certainly being used to store something. That tire is just a spare for the trailer- no need to waste precious storage space keeping it inside when it’s literally made to be outdoors for it’s lifetime.

      Pretty much every billionaire is doing tons of drugs but they never get the same judgement. Cocaine, ketamine, MDMA, all sorts of designer stuff. Using prescription stuff recreationally like Adderall and Ritalin. Or buying up all of the diabetes medication that has weight loss as a side effect so they can eat luxuriously without worrying about gaining weight. Is it really “coping with their situation” or is it possible that they have nothing to cope with and are just enjoying their lives?