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Capitalism makes me tired.

Zelda Pinwheel
3 min readApr 9, 2021

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1911 Industrial Workers of the World Poster

Tonight I’m thinking about value.

I was just having a conversation with my mom and there was a bit of a silent spot, and in that moment I was realizing that there was no way I could really afford therapy for the next few weeks to the next few months. Frustrating, given I literally just started it. And at the tail end of that silence, she mentioned that a guy she knows is probably gonna walk away from an 80k gig.

I was immediately agitated.

I am still agitated.

Part of it, I know, is garden variety jealousy. 80k would be life changing. And like, honestly? It pisses me off when someone ten years younger and with less experience can walk into a job that pays more than twice what I make. And that’s my own damn problem and I’m aware of that.

But also…it pisses me off that there is such a disparity on the value we place on different kinds of work. I work in health care. I’m not a doctor or a nurse, the only clinical training I’ve received I’ve gotten through my job, but I’m a key member of a team that ensures longer term health issues do not slip through the cracks. I help to make sure patients get the care they need. I also help to make sure that our records are correct, preventing us from any potential legal action.

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