Regarding Utopia in Today's Society

There was a comment in class from a few weeks ago where the United States was observed to be a very rich, prosperous nation. In honesty, part of me cringed when I heard this said. It's not so much that I disagree with that the US is a prosperous nation. Certainly, our version of poverty is unlike that of a nation where people have trouble eating due to famine. However, I think it's important to look at our country from more pragmatic eyes.

Crime in our country, whether it's civil or criminal, is present despite the best intentions of our government. Our Congress holds an all time low of trust with the people .. due to the massive amounts of money that is swaying our representative's votes. People struggle with two, sometimes three jobs, to barely pay bills and feed their families.

I don't know if you remember, but some years ago, there was this thing called the Housing Bubble crash.

That period marked a time where the value of homes plummeted, yet the value of the mortgages stayed high simply because the banks didn't want to admit fault and accept the debt by re-evaluating mortgages. Homeowner's couldn't meet the cost of the mortgage by selling their homes, and many people abandoned their property. Some stories even rose of families living out of a U-Haul.

Our nation may be 'prosperous' when you look at our GDP, but we are nowhere near prosperous when it comes to individual happiness and freedom from strife. Each of us must fight for our own survival, and no nation, regardless of the system and its origins, can prevent tragedy .. whether it results from debt, violent crime, or abuse.

No Utopian system, no matter how 'perfect' or 'prosperous' it may seem, can save each and every single individual. I am a victim of abuse, and many of my close friends are as well. Each tragedy that occurs shapes who we are and defines us on some level, and no Utopia can prevent all individuals from falling through the cracks. 

Whether it's the land of the free and the home of the brave, or a dystopia where there's no reason to think .. where ignorance is peace and freedom is slavery .. no system can fix every individual issue because (as we've found time and again) no individual perfectly conforms to the laws and ideals of a society. Is the US a prosperous country? Certainly. Is it Utopian, certainly not. 

We, as humans, will never be free from strife. Bernard in "Brave New World" was an outcast because of his height, while Helmholtz was an outcast due to his genius. No Utopian system perfectly accommodates each individual, so why bother trying? 

A bleak outlook? Maybe. But does that invalidate the point?