Exit, Stage Left

I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. It was never some grand ambition, never a pursuit of freedom or wealth. It was survival — plain and simple. The least bad option in a system where working for others meant exploitation, and working for myself meant standing up for honesty, integrity, and the autonomy to say no to things I believed weren’t right.

The cruel irony of trying to build something ethical in America is that the very principles that supposedly form the foundation of good business — integrity, fairness, transparency — have become liabilities.

The worst people see them as openings, vulnerabilities to exploit for personal gain. They know that if you hold yourself to a standard, they can use that standard against you. And they do. Over and over again.

I’ve watched ruthless people succeed while the honest and kind ones burn out. I’ve seen how the system rewards those who manipulate and discard others, while the ones trying to build something real struggle just to keep going. The game is rigged, and trying to play it on principle feels like willingly stepping onto a battlefield where the enemy has all the weapons and no rules.

So, what’s left? What’s the other option, the way forward that doesn’t mean selling out or being endlessly ground down for daring to live with good intentions?

Leave.

Not just the industries I work in. Not just the toxic environments full of people who thrive on cruelty. Not just the American way of doing business.

Leave America entirely.

The idea isn’t some passing frustration. It’s not just a fantasy of escape. It’s the logical conclusion of years of seeing, time and again, that this system isn’t broken — it’s working exactly the way a system would if designed with the most abusive priorities in mind.

It sure wasn’t designed for people like me, or my parents, or my grandparents. It wasn’t built to support people who want to do things the kind way. And if the environment is hostile to kindness, then staying is just self-immolation.

But where to go? That’s the question I keep turning over. Have been, for years and years. About 15 years, last I counted.

Are there places where fairness isn’t seen as weakness? Are there places less suffocating, where I wouldn’t constantly feel like I have to watch my back, burn myself out, wait for the next person to take avantage of my optimism and hopefulness?

I don’t know. What I do know is that if the place where I live feels so exhausting, if surviving with integrity is such a constant uphill battle, then I owe it to myself to try to find something different. Looking for it where I know I won’t find it is just a waste of my life.

If America makes kindness this much work, then America probably isn’t the kind of place where I’ll ever feel at home.