not great. my parents were good people, and did their best to care for me, but we were extremely poor. like, we-got-nothing-to-feed-you-so-you-have-to-stay-with-your-uncle-for-the-summer-poor EDIT: i should note, i'm talking after the dissolution. before we were doing very well apparently, but being months old at the time i obviously don't remember it
damn, feel like i should CW the answer for some real sad shit but
spoiler
my dad killed himself when i was around 20, after struggling with depression and alcoholism for most his life
he did manage to get back up on his feet financially after the 90s, at least we weren't living in poverty by the time i was in my late teens, but the fact that we still lived in the flat owned by his wife's mother really did not help, with his ideas of what a man is supposed to be
my mum is doing well. she eventually moved on, found someone else, and we have a great relationship, especially considering i'm gay
I'm sorry. I'm a parent so when you were talking about some of those situations you experienced growing up - while I can't say I've ever been in similar material circumstances, I can in some small way imagine the heartbreak those must've caused for your parents, and it's awful. I'm glad you and your mom are OK now.
for whats it worth, my parents did a very good job of shielding me from the dismal material realities. i did not really spend much time thinking about how poor we were, i was busy with normal kids stuff. most of my schoolmates were in similar situations so it all just seemed normal tbh. the realisation of how poor we actually were came when i was already grown up, just thinking back like "damn"
It really bothers me how, here in the US, the narrative is that the USSR and other Eastern Bloc nations were all just "inefficient" so any economic downtowns after the fall of communism are attributed to just a little bit of "readjustment". So not only does it completely minimize the suffering people like your family endured, it's also just wrong. I'm more familiar with the former GDR, but they had plenty of top notch industries like shipbuilding and optics. The capitalists in the west just came in bought up the assets for pennies and closed them down to further cement their monopolies (this happens within capitalist economies all the time). Not to mention, a lot of what capitalists call " inefficiencies are really just things like not treating workers like disposable cogs.
as far as i saw it at least, a lot of his issues he had were to do with feelings of inadequacy, and not being able to fulfil the role of the manly provider for the family weighed on him for sure. i don't want to play the armchair psychologist too much, and as many men of his generation he never spoke about his feelings directly, there was likely other factors too and you probably can't blame all of it on capitalism, but the dissolution undeniably was a major factor yeah
not great. my parents were good people, and did their best to care for me, but we were extremely poor. like, we-got-nothing-to-feed-you-so-you-have-to-stay-with-your-uncle-for-the-summer-poor EDIT: i should note, i'm talking after the dissolution. before we were doing very well apparently, but being months old at the time i obviously don't remember it
How are your parents doing now?
damn, feel like i should CW the answer for some real sad shit but
spoiler
my dad killed himself when i was around 20, after struggling with depression and alcoholism for most his life
he did manage to get back up on his feet financially after the 90s, at least we weren't living in poverty by the time i was in my late teens, but the fact that we still lived in the flat owned by his wife's mother really did not help, with his ideas of what a man is supposed to be
my mum is doing well. she eventually moved on, found someone else, and we have a great relationship, especially considering i'm gay
I'm sorry. I'm a parent so when you were talking about some of those situations you experienced growing up - while I can't say I've ever been in similar material circumstances, I can in some small way imagine the heartbreak those must've caused for your parents, and it's awful. I'm glad you and your mom are OK now.
for whats it worth, my parents did a very good job of shielding me from the dismal material realities. i did not really spend much time thinking about how poor we were, i was busy with normal kids stuff. most of my schoolmates were in similar situations so it all just seemed normal tbh. the realisation of how poor we actually were came when i was already grown up, just thinking back like "damn"
It really bothers me how, here in the US, the narrative is that the USSR and other Eastern Bloc nations were all just "inefficient" so any economic downtowns after the fall of communism are attributed to just a little bit of "readjustment". So not only does it completely minimize the suffering people like your family endured, it's also just wrong. I'm more familiar with the former GDR, but they had plenty of top notch industries like shipbuilding and optics. The capitalists in the west just came in bought up the assets for pennies and closed them down to further cement their monopolies (this happens within capitalist economies all the time). Not to mention, a lot of what capitalists call " inefficiencies are really just things like not treating workers like disposable cogs.
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as far as i saw it at least, a lot of his issues he had were to do with feelings of inadequacy, and not being able to fulfil the role of the manly provider for the family weighed on him for sure. i don't want to play the armchair psychologist too much, and as many men of his generation he never spoke about his feelings directly, there was likely other factors too and you probably can't blame all of it on capitalism, but the dissolution undeniably was a major factor yeah
deleted by creator
absolutely :deeper-sadness: