Man explains how America is the only country that glorifies the hardships in life

It has become a common notion that in this fast-paced world, one has to run the meticulous rat race to live a comfortable life. People are toiling hard for more hours than they actually could so that they stay ahead of the competition. It has come to a point where if someone chooses to abandon this frantic chase, they might as well find every basic necessity unaffordable. TikTok content creator Matthew Bunker who often talks about the lifestyle changes of the current generation shared a video about Americans thinking that "life should be hard." With over 400K views, this video seemed relatable to many online.

"America is a wild place," said Bunker as the video began. In his opinion, among many other civilized countries in the world, America seemed to be the only place where people think that life has to be lived the hard way. "We genuinely believe that just mere existence should be difficult," Bunker said. "We should struggle. We have to struggle. Otherwise, it's like, 'What's the point?'" Bunker says that most Americans have a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality implying that people feel that the only way to get through life is working like a machine.

"You guys say things like, 'Well, no one wants to work anymore.' Of course not. Who wants to work? Why would I want to work?" exclaimed Bunker. In his view, Americans are "romanticizing" the desire to hustle so hard. "People will wear their exhaustion on their sleeve as if it was like a badge of honor," he said. He wanted to point out that it wasn't a good thing for people to brag about how they were working multiple jobs, getting no sleep and not being able to afford food and clean water. Bunker explained that people value their ability to pay for their abode and added, "Americans will support, not only support but actively participate in their exploitation." Even if Americans had the option to benefit from the tax money they pay to their government, they would choose to earn everything "through blood, sweat and tear."

Bunker joked that if someone was "bleeding" to earn their basic necessity in other developed countries, they would be sent to a doctor. Calling the rat race and hustle culture unnecessary, Bunker emphasized, "It's just so wild to me that Americans have been so brainwashed to feel any sort of basic necessity has to be earned. Like, just living should not be given." This "radical concept" did not sit well with Bunker and he pointed out, "Maybe you just shouldn't go bankrupt for needing healthcare." Not just the content creator, but thousands of other American people were tired of this pre-decided need to struggle in life.

"I mean seriously, why is it like this? A 40-hour work week at 1 job should be more than enough to live comfortably. But no, we have to do everything," ranted @mickster8706. "I think prior generations think that because it was hard for them, it should be hard for everyone. Small-minded perspective keeping us all down," chimed in @sleepysqlgirl. "Probably the most true statement I have heard all year. The more you travel outside of the US the more you realize the American dream is just that," commented @eric0732.

You can follow Matthew Bunker (@bunkerlicious) on TikTok for more relatable and hilarious content.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on April 12, 2024. It has since been updated.