I’ve lived in poverty for my entire life. From the moment I started working at McDonald’s when I was 15, I’ve been continuously supporting my parents financially, paying my own bills, struggling to make it through to the next paycheck. I’ve never been on vacation; in fact, I’ve never been more than a 3 hour drive away from my home town.

A month ago, I landed a sales job at a massive company based out of Wall Street. I was interviewed by one of the company heads from Manhattan, and he immediately saw great promise in me. Within my first month, I closed multiple deals and grew a reputation for being an up-and-comer at the company. I impressed them so much, in fact, that they booked me a two-week trip to NYC—all expenses paid—to train at their Wall Street headquarters.

Obviously, this was the opportunity of a lifetime for me. I’ve truly never been as excited for anything before. I was worried from day 1 about the vax requirement, but my boss reasssured me that I’d be fine; “it isn’t being enforced, have a safe flight!”. And up until this morning, I allowed myself to believe that this was the case.

Reality’s a bitch.

Upon arriving at the airport, I was immediately asked for proof of vaccination to check in for my flight. The guy at the kiosk clearly felt bad; he even made a comment about how the US is one of the only countries in the world still requiring this. But alas, the power of discretion is a thing of the past, and I was sent home, where I’ve been crying and punching at walls ever since.

I hate this world. I hate that I lost this unbelievable opportunity in spite of my merit and ability, simply because I’ve been designated as a sub-human by the new world order. I hate that I allowed myself to have hope; I should’ve known better than to expect anything other than disappointment at this point. In any other time, I would have been on the 50th floor of a New York skyscraper right now learning from some of the most talented salespeople on this planet. Instead, I’m laying in bed, typing this out, feeling myself grow consumed with disdain and resentment for this life. Fuck you, Joe Biden; and fuck every single person who enabled this mockery of a world to get to this.

My coping mechanism is to envision this as one grand test to see if I would abandon my morals and get the jab if the universe dangled a good enough incentive for me. As miserable as I am right now, I still don’t regret forgoing the clotshot. People have lost far more than I over the course of the nightmare that has been the last two years; I suppose it was simply my turn to endure the suffering.

I hate the new world.