When I was younger, I would measure my self-worth based on my monetary worth. I'd work 2-3 jobs, thinking if I just work harder, and save, I can build a life. Being from deep poverty I believed that still struggling to make ends meet, was a personal failure.

Then as I got older, I was exposed to more folks who had their college paid for, or inherited their homes, had connections, etc. I was happy for them, of course, I don't want anyone to struggle and I want people to have stability. But, I saw the disparity and I realized that I was sold a bag of rotten goods. Half-truths. Sure, working hard has virtue. But, for who? Making companies rich, killing ourselves, and breaking apart our bodies for the bottom dollar of shareholders isn't innate to our own self-worth.

In Appalachia, where I am from, coal companies spent millions of dollars (billions by today's standard) to convince people of exactly that. A yarn was spun through our communities and in our schools that self-worth is tied to how much you dedicate yourself to the company store. They told us, “This is how you prove you are taking care of your family."

When I got older I realized some people were taught to build their OWN businesses. Invest. And, most of them were wealthy, or from the upper-middle class and had the funds and assets to do it. They were being taught something completely different than what we were growing up. And, that's intentional. I learned that the wealthy make their money off stock shares, loans, and capital gains, not "hard work." We are fed a mythology of meritocracy, in order for us to build our whole world around where we work.

The corporate propagandists prop up tokens to aspire to. People that are the exceptions to the rule. Pipe dreams. They deny wealth disparity and the reality of its impacts because it works in favor of the elite class. So many of us are taught to see our value in not what we contribute to our communities, how much love we show our families, our critical thinking, and creativity, but by how profitable and productive we are for the corporations that now refuse to even give us basic benefits.

This Christmas I rewatched It's a Wonderful Life. And, in today's new Gilded Age, it's more important than ever to realize these mythologies and pull together as communities.

Be a George Bailey. Build coops. Build community. We can't let bastards like Mr. Potter gaslight us and win any more.