In my opinion, America is so expensive now that even basic rent is hard to afford compared to people’s salary. If the monthly salary was at least three times higher than the rent, maybe people could actually survive, but right now after paying rent you still have to buy food and pay gas, internet, and electricity, so many people really cannot afford it. People are just working so hard every single day just to survive, repeating the same struggle until they cannot make it anymore, and sometimes that pressure pushes them into decisions they never really wanted to make.

When people are very poor and just trying to survive, some end up doing crime, but rich people with good schools and connections don’t face that same survival pressure.

This part is a really big deal for me, because as a child if your parents have good education and a stable salary, they don’t struggle with money and their kids usually get good connections, good schools, and higher knowledge. But if you grow up with no money like me, you don’t start with those advantages, and your life chances depend a lot on how hard you work and any small connections you can build.

In my opinion, many older people are actually happy because they already experienced life. They experienced joy, they saw what they wanted to see, and they watched the world and their places change over time. Some of them might feel sad because they think they did not achieve enough, but they still experienced life and they saw what they had to see.

I only believe something when there is a hypothesis tested many times and the prediction comes true. Many old people get sick and struggle because they did not take care of themselves when they were young and used different things that made their bodies weak. My point is we can’t just keep predicting things. If we keep predicting, it’s just assuming about things we’re not really sure of yet.

I’m not American, I’m Filipino. I used to think a lot of Filipino families are good families, because no matter how hard life is and how poor it is, they stick together. Even if there is a lot of fighting, yelling, shouting, they still stay together. I felt so proud that my mom and dad are still married. But these days I found out the true story, that my dad is not perfect, and the story I knew in the past is getting destroyed by learning what the real story or real picture is.

As for me, I cannot say to someone that I know about them when in reality I don’t. I can judge, but I cannot say I really know, because that is a big deal. I never put my shoes in their shoes, so how can I say I know?

When I first got here in America, there were certain things I believed because of my social background. My husband had a therapist, so I joined his therapy. At first, I just listened to other people’s problems and issues, until the therapist asked me about my own feelings about my family. I had a lot of beliefs like ‘my family is great,’ but when he asked me, I felt doomed because I didn’t know what to say and I didn’t even know the definition of feelings. As we kept working, I started to see the reality. I saw the true color, the true image of my past. I realized I have a lot of trauma, but at least now I can face it. I can see it is there, instead of lying to myself that it is not there. I know it’s not perfect and I still have a lot of issues and a lot of scramble in my life, but at least I can work on it now.

Yes, of course people have their own thoughts and their own mind. They get influenced by what they see, what they hear, and the people around them, but they still have their own mindset. They still have their own feelings and judgment about what’s going on around them, so they don’t always follow the pattern.

This paragraph makes me sad. It shows that our social background controls us more than we know. We think we are free, but our family, country, and class already push us toward certain choices. I feel like People who travel to other countries are lucky, because they can see many different ways of living and thinking.

I agree, People often think they’re freely choosing a partner, but they pick based on looks, money, or other outside traits instead of the person’s real personality. It’s like buying a bag because it’s cute but not thinking if it’s functional

I do not fully agree with this paragraph. The author talks like they can predict who a person will marry, but every person has different thoughts, experiences, and choices. People read many different books and meet many different people, so their partner cannot be predicted just from statistics. Marriage is a personal decision, not only a social pattern.

I agree. America has many opportunities, but our freedom is limited by social and economic pressure. If you don’t have money or don’t work hard, you can end up homeless, and the system doesn’t always protect you. That means our choices are not as free as they look.