Everyone has a label. They are classified as something whether by race, gender, color, ethnicity, status, condition... you get the idea. Whether you realize it or not, we've all put a label on someone. Stereotyped them. Put them into a category whic...
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I wake up with a throbbing headache. Groaning, I roll off my bed and land on the floor. Gradually, I get dressed in my faded jeans and a black tee shirt with my favorite flannel hanging loosely around my waist. Grabbing my keys, I pull my hair into a bun as I leave the apartment.
The second I step outside, the smell of factory smoke drifts into my nostrils. I ignore it and move along, passing a family of beggars sitting on the steps outside the apartment complex. Litter spreads all across the roads and I spot a raccoon eating up the remnants of a dead bird. Turning away in disgust, I focus on the work for today.
For as long as I can remember, my family has lived in the poor sector of our country. We have spent nearly our whole lives living as yellows. Our nation had split into sections, one for each color of the rainbow.
Similar to a hierarchy, Violets govern our country. The Violets are the upper class, meaning they get to spend eased lives with little worries. They were like the royalty with expensive clothes and food, high-quality education, and advanced technology. They are military generals, high government officials, and wealthy businessmen. They're children grow up spoiled and disrespectful. I can't remember the last time a Violet was nice to me. But then again, Violets don't even take a second glance at anyone below them, much less talk to them.
Blues live your dream lives, with high-class jobs like doctors, architects, and engineers. They get much to pay and the many rights. They get their own cars and can live in mansions and large fancy buildings. They are known to be smart and get perfect marks in education. Never have I met a Blue who did not enjoy books or mathematics problems.
A step down from Blue, Greens are the middle class. They live as chefs, transportation, bankers, farmers and the classic jobs. They get an education and some rights. They live your average life, with a balance of working, having fun, and sleeping. Blues are most likely the kindest of the whole system, working community service and caring for others. I remember walking home in the rain when a Blue woman offered me her umbrella. I gratefully took it and watched her smiling even as the rain-drenched her.
The Yellows, my class, is part of the lower class. We are painters, musicians, writers, dancers, and make a living off of the arts. In short, we are the entertainers of society. The Violets hire us to make paintings of them, perform songs and such. Even though we have the artistic talents, most of the Yellows don't get paid very much, hence leaving us in the lower class. We are left to make a living with what little resources we can afford. We don't have many rights but what we do favor is the freedom given to us. We value the importance of hard work and cherish the fortunate results that it pays off to. Most of us live in small apartments with two rooms, a bathroom, and if we're lucky a studio.
I think we honestly have things easy compared to the Oranges and Reds. Oranges are the sanitation, factory, and service workers. They clean up after people and make products in a factory. Many are firefighters, policemen, and jailers. The rest would be janitors, cleaners, and busboys. Many of the males are sent to fight in the military when they are eighteen. I've seen so many Orange families separated, sobbing their hearts out for they will never see their son, brother, or husband ever again.
The Reds have it the worst. They are the unemployed, with no jobs or education. Most of the Reds are the disabled, diseased, or deformed. They are useless to the government so they have no role in society. They live on the streets or in small shacks if they're lucky. I have seen many homeless Red families in my neighborhood but I feel bad since I don't have anything to offer them.
We are all split into our groups by skill. If you have a very useful skill, like doctor or lawyer, you end up at the top with the Violets and Blues. If you have a common skill, like farming or cooking, you end up a Green, which is most of the population. Yellows are in-between, where you have a useful but not necessary skill. We are not needed to live, but we help make life more enjoyable. If you have no skill, you are put in a factory or garbage truck like the Oranges. However, if you are ill or unworkable, you are put with the Reds, with no work and no money.
As unfair, the system is, it gets us through life. Unless you do something unbelievable like inventing the light bulb or something, you aren't allowed to move up classes. However, if you do something unspeakable, like kill someone, you are moved down in the system.
We honestly just follow the system to stay alive. There are so many rules in our society. But they all say that rules breed safety. Rules breed organization. Rules breed protection. But what they don't know is that rules are much more. Rules breed rebels.
