R e z i n

Modesty is a very relative thing.

In the US, we have people who think that living in a single-family home with 1000 ft.² of space per occupant, with a 1/4 acre lot is modest. People really think that that is the way the average human being lives in this world. Some of these people even have their own swimming pool in their own backyard for the use of 4-6 people.

In the meantime, there are people living in apartments in rowhouses, where whole families share the same space of one person. They use public spaces, public pools, and public transportation. They are hard-working folks who do the best they can to provide for their families and live modestly to save for the hope of a better tomorrow.

These groups of people are not the same, and are diametrically opposed economically. The natural resources required to heat a 4000 square-foot home in a month would heat an apartment for an entire winter. Prices are a function of supply and demand. The more resources some people use, the higher the price is for everybody. Those who consume more create a higher burden for those who can afford less. It’s why the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

When people who are used to living in 1000 ft.² of space per person, with a private yard are faced with the prospect of having to suffer with less, it incites fear. To lose the comfort and security of the standard of living that they are accustomed to would be a fate worse than death. They will do literally anything they feel they have to, whether ethical or not, to try to make sure they don’t lose their place in the stratus of society.

At the same time, the other group is financially coerced to do whatever they feel that they need to do to try to get their family to a better situation. The people that have a little bit of money turn to the people with more money to fund schemes to make more money off of people with less money. It’s the scheme as old as time.

Modest middle class living in America is a myth. That standard of living couldn’t exist without being propped up by the exploitation of the less affluent at home and abroad. The consumption of people living a middle class lifestyle far outpaces their production. Folks living like this are unwitting agents of the stratification that divides us. The Powers That Be rely on this stratification to enforce the structures of economic oppression. They provided soldiers returning from World War II with a very specific type of lifestyle so that they would become defenders of that lifestyle for generations, regardless of the cost. They turned consumerism into religion for reasons. Now we have the advent of prosperity ministry, where hoarding resources is seen as being more virtuous than austerity.

I live modestly, and I’m very proud of it. The affordability of my lifestyle allows me the freedom to not live in fear that I might lose the comfort that I have. I don’t have to sacrifice myself for my morals to make the money I need to live. I realize how many times, and in how many ways, appearing to be a CIS white man has afforded me privileges and opportunities that others have not had. Instead of trying to use any extra money that I have to try to get myself into a more extravagant home, I usually try to do things to help my friends who are struggling, supporting artists and musicians, or trying to give my shelter dog the best years ever.

Rezin.party is a living example of that. When I had a come up on a stupid airdrop, instead of reinvesting the money into schemes that would’ve given me 10X or better returns, I built a website to show others how to do that. It was more important to me to show other people how they could get free money than to make more money off the money I got. I tried to make it as easy as possible for other people that didn’t have access to such markets to learn how to use them. When I got my head above the water of financial oppression, I looked for other people I could carry to the shore. I didn’t try to step on other people‘s heads to get back on the boat.

Modesty is relative.