25 and Disappointed: We should've known

Maybe when we were asked to pay for drinking water - we should have known. That something was going wrong. It was not all right. When they were demanding money (or) selling it as a feature - the things that are supposed to be basic, we should have given it a thought.

We were too busy. We ignored many things. Maybe that was the cause for the today's effects.

NOTE: Thanks ChatGPT for producing this piece-

We drank from rivers without fear,
Now we sip from plastic, year by year.
The water flows behind a brand—
And thirst obeys a bottled stand.

The wind was once a mother's balm,
Now sold in purifiers, stripped of calm.
Air itself wears price tags now,
And forests bow to urban vow.

The night once wrapped us in soft sleep,
Now screens invade, and silence weep.
We pop a pill to close our eyes,
While time slips past in lullaby.

The sun was free to touch our skin,
Now we chase it in capsules thin.
Vitamin D in boxes sold—
A warmth we traded, cheap and cold.

The earth beneath our calloused feet,
Is fenced and priced on every street.
To own a patch, to build, to sow—
Now buried under EMI’s flow.

A smile once grew on simple bread,
But now it costs a week instead.
The grain is lost to foreign trade,
And food is artfully overlaid.

Shade from trees? A luxury.
To sit and breathe? A strategy.
Even rest is now a plan,
Scheduled tight by working man.

We sell our peace in therapy,
Buy back our time from slavery.
Once, a friend would lend an ear—
Now empathy comes per hour, per tear.

We train our kids to chase and win,
And rob them of the mess within.
Joy is now a curated feed—
Not bruised knees or hurting knees

How did we let this madness grow,

Where everything is bought to show?

The commons sold, the basics caged,

And no one flinched. No one raged.

Not when love turned into loans,
Not when cities swallowed homes.
Not when sleep became a drug,
Not when childhood lost its hug.

We should have known,

when we paid for a glass of water,

that everything after

would come

with a bill

Comments

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my fav quotes from my teachers

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