Moving apartments shouldn't feel like a fight to the death, yet that's exactly what it's become in New York City. Picture this: you're balanced on a pedestal, unable to step off too early (landlords won't show you apartments a month before your move date), forced to wait until the perfect moment when you must sprint against countless others toward the same limited housing options. This absurd reality perfectly captures how we've complicated the most basic human needs.
Why do landlords insist on showing apartments only two weeks before availability? Why do employers require multiple interviews for straightforward positions? The pattern is clear - those in positions of power create unnecessary obstacles, turning life's essentials into exhausting competitions. During my recent apartment hunt, every interaction with male landlords and agents reminded me how much harder they make these processes than necessary.
This manufactured difficulty extends beyond housing into our broader social fabric. We're witnessing a culture where violent rhetoric is defended as "opinion" until it manifests as physical violence, at which point everyone expresses shock while refusing accountability. The recent controversy surrounding Jimmy Kimmel's show being pulled after his comments about political violence highlights this hypocrisy. Those claiming to champion free speech are often the first to silence opposing viewpoints.
America's complicated relationship with violence deserves honest examination. While I'm not condoning violence, it's ahistorical to claim it "never solves anything" in a country literally founded through violent revolution. The deeper issue is why people who claim to dislike others can't simply leave them alone - instead, they actively work to make life harder for those with different identities or perspectives.
We live on a floating rock in space where none of these complications are inherently necessary. Life could be so much simpler if we chose respect and coexistence over obstruction and hostility. This isn't just wishful thinking - it's a reminder that the systems making our lives difficult were created by people and can be changed by people. The question is: when will we decide that life doesn't have to be this hard?