Successful -5minutefreewrite

For https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-319-5-minute-freewrite-monday-prompt-successful

I am a success. For sure.

I have a wife, a kid, a roof over my head...

Of course, at my age, my parents owned several houses and were getting graduate degrees.

Of course, at my age, my mom work as a union cashier at a grocer store and made 20+dollars an hour, which would be 50+ dollars an hour in today's money.

Right?

If I can't be mad about that, I don't know what I can be mad about.

I belong to the professional actor's union. Thank goodness. Union wages haven't stagnated, but the demolition of the unions has meant wages have stagnated. Is your grocery store unionized? I don't even know if mine is. I should find out. I doubt it.

And not even just comparing inflation to wages, let's talk about housing. To be fair, no one could have predicted that Seattle was going to be a giant tech hub in the 70s. But, like, a house was affordable. Now... I'm sure my childhood home is worth nearly a million dollars, if not more. And, of course, I live in L.A., and even already having been a big city and not particularly impacted by the mega demand of rich tech folks, prices are out of reach for almost everybody.

Let's talk about L.A. here's a thought: because of how low-paying work is in general, is that why it's worth it for so many people to go ahead and pursue becoming an actor in L.A.? I'd be doing it regardless, but would ALL these people? Or would I? If regional theatres hadn't started to go bust, and the repertory system started to die, would I have started working in a rep at some point? Hmmm.