I sincerely doubt I'm alone in this opinion. It seems to me that the content on Steem since the price has gone down, has also declined in quality lately. Of course the best authors, the committed ones are still producing good content, but the one offs, those posts that would make me say - "Oh, I should follow this guy" - those are gone.

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I can't really blame people for giving up, its how the brain is wired to work. Most of us run some internal calculations and decide if something is worth our efforts or not. Currently, a whole week of Steeming is making me less than 100 USD. If you live in America, you are well aware that the number is really not that impressive, but at the same time one Benjamin is nothing I would just dismiss.

Just yesterday on our weekly meeting of @helpie I wanted to tackle the subject of perspective. To me, being aware of the fact that as much as we might believe ourselves to be in a terrible position, our opinion, our observation is by default myopic and it takes a little more effort to zoom out and see the bigger picture.

I guess I'm attempting to not only be sympathetic to those who rely heavily on their Steem income, but also be realistic about my own situation, revise my expectations and get ready for the changes that are always around the corner. In other words, complaining about the $100 I'm going to make is a) useless and b) insensitive - so I'll flex some mental muscles and hold on to sincere gratitude.

My current Mantra

"It's pretty fantastic to make some income from writing my ideas onto a blog, when I shared them for years without ever getting a penny from it."

Anecdote Incoming - Bear with me

On of the silliest stories of my time I can think of involves a former Argentinian President, who coincidentally served seven years in prison many years after his tenure. Some say he was just a useful idiot, and I have a hard time disagreeing with that assessment of the man if I'm to be honest about it.

Carlos Menem used to travel the Country quite a bit. He would talk to his constituency as a good politician should do, with heavily prepared speeches. In one of those occasions he mixed up the speech papers, meaning he read the wrong paper and the wrong place and proceeded to talk for an extended time to children about a rocket train that was sure to boost commerce.

In order for you to grasp what happened, attempt to picture the following: The president of Argentina is talking to a very impoverished group of children, that have possibly never seen a train, don't understand commerce in the slightest and without a doubt have never traveled outside the country.

There he is, attempting to sell the children the idea of supporting his efforts of building a train that would take people to japan in under an hour. It would allow for commerce to flourish, Argentinians to practice tourism and of course the opposite would be true as well. The children just sat there, not understanding a single word the President spoke, until he realized he was reading from the wrong paper.

Without missing a beat, grabbed the right one, and restarted his speech.

_{Important side note.- the train never became a reality}

What's that all about?

To me, some whales voicing their concerns of the platform, even some witnesses sound at times like Menem. And I'm not saying this because I'm of the idea that Steemian whales are evil or anything that dramatic. I'm just attempting to point out my observations.

The political aspect of the platform is very thick, very present, and If I'm to be honest about it, it's not pretty. In many ways it emulates all the things I happen to not appreciate about traditional politics, and this realization is making me look at things with a different lens.

I think some of them would do much better if they would focus their efforts on garnishing the support of the "common man" sort of speak. Having a private position and a public one, is not really doing anyone any good. Cognitive Dissonance aside, it's hard for people to rally behind ideas that benefit the few.

Grassroots

Maybe you've heard the word before, specially after our 2016 elections here in the US, and the ramifications of the results. The truth is that it seems idealistic at best, but it's not necessarily something we should dismiss as useless.

Wikipedia
the common or ordinary people, especially as contrasted with the leadership or elite of a political party, social organization, etc.; the rank and file. the agricultural and rural areas of a country. the people inhabiting these areas, especially as a political, social, or economic group.

I'm attempting to wrap my head around the idea for some time now. What would it take for us to embrace the right behaviors. For Steem users to get really involved in our politics, vote for the right witnesses, call out those who are not doing right by the platform. For investors regardless of wallet size to see the potential behind this idea, and not the myopic stance built on just today.

And... there is where I am. Attempting to juggle these thoughts in an effort to see if there is anything there, or we are all just dancing with a bear.