The Gift of Life
When I wake up in the morning, I’m simply grateful for another day—another opportunity to bask in the glory of the sun. I find that the simplest pleasures in life, like being able to physically move, see, feel, and experience life, are the ultimate gift. Honestly, I’ve reached a point in my journey of personal growth and discovery where I can sit back, stare at a tree, stare at the wall, and feel so damn good and grateful.
Cosmopolitan
I just finished reading a book called The Life and Dangerous Ideas of Diogenes the Cynic. He was a Cynic philosopher who lived in a clay pot in Athens and led a very radical lifestyle. While I could talk about his ideas and famous life stories, there was one simple statement that really resonated with me:
“I am a citizen of the world.”
Diogenes traveled a lot throughout his life, and I relate to this because of my journey. While I was born and raised in the city of Philadelphia, and I’m obviously a citizen here—an American—I am also a dual citizen of Italy. I’ve spent a lot of time on the road, volunteering on farms, hitchhiking, living in villages, climbing mountains, and more. At the end of the day, I don’t really “fit in” anywhere in the world. I’ve always been an adventurer, an outsider on the inside, somebody in between.
Maybe this is what being European is all about? When I think of Europe and the immigration to America, especially in the early 20th century, I think about downtown Manhattan, New York City, and the various people, the diverse groups, the different cultures that make up America. I think about freedom, exploration, and finding meaning in the unknown.
Why Do Most Fashion Models Look So Depressed?
I recently flipped through a fashion magazine, and I couldn’t help but notice how depressed, bored, blasé, and just plain weird the models looked. All the clothing was that high-end luxury stuff—Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Gucci, Balenciaga, etc. One of the dresses in the magazine was over $15,000… but the kicker was, the model looked so, so, so sad.
Why do they always do that pose? That serious, stern face, almost like they’re constipated? It’s like, “Oh, look at me. I’m so fancy, so pompous, so wealthy. But deep down, I don’t like you, I don’t like anyone, I don’t want to look at you. I just want to put on my sunglasses and pretend I’m better than you.”
In this very, very, very, very short gift of life, the wisest advice I can give is to stay as far away from material pleasures as possible. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or how many things you acquire. If your soul isn’t open, if you’re not self-realized, if you don’t have some spiritual connection to God or something greater than yourself, it’s all meaningless.
I think my generation—Gen Z—is so confused about what success even looks like, what it even is.
Success is waking up each morning excited to catch the sunrise. Success is finding meaning in the mundane and appreciating the everyday experiences we have. What we truly want are experiences, not material things. Experiences are the ultimate teacher, the way to give life deeper meaning.
Don’t be distracted by these lame fashion trends, Hollywood, social media people, etc. Live a life of meaning, purpose, and experience over materials.
Wisdom Over Material
When Aladdin enters the Cave of Wonders, he’s surrounded by treasure—jewels, diamonds, gold, you name it. He could’ve taken so much, but he chose the lamp. If he had taken any of the other treasures, he would’ve been trapped in that cave forever, surrounded by “luxury.”
In the end, he made the right choice, because by taking the lamp, he gained omnipotent knowledge and wisdom with the genie in the bottle. I think this is a powerful metaphor for our lives: think critically about how you spend your time and money, and focus more on learning through experiences than acquiring more junk.
SEPTA and a Broken System
So just this past week, SEPTA, Philadelphia’s local transportation system, increased the wages of its workers. They were threatening to go on strike, which would’ve been a really, really big deal, considering how many people rely on public transportation for work, school, and daily commuting. Honestly, I completely understand why the SEPTA workers would strike, given inflation, the rising cost of living, and the crucial role they play in keeping the city running. SEPTA workers are some of the most important people in the city—they’re like the glue that holds everything together.
But here’s the thing: now that SEPTA workers are getting a raise, the cost of individual rides is going to increase too. At the end of the day, this isn’t necessarily a “good” thing. It’s just another sign that the system is garbage and that our money is broken.
What Bitcoin Has Taught Me
I’m really new to Bitcoin, only getting into it during this last halving cycle, 2024. But what I’ve learned, which is most profound and paradigm-shifting, is how I now price everything in Bitcoin in my head. Whenever I think about buying something—which is super rare since I’ve been spending almost nothing for two years—I ask myself what that $10, $20, or $100 would be worth in 10 years if I just put it into Bitcoin instead.
Honestly, about two years ago, I felt pretty hopeless. You work, you make money, just to spend it. Saving felt pointless because the dollar keeps depreciating. There wasn’t anything I really believed in.
But now, with my newfound knowledge about Bitcoin, my paradigm has completely shifted. I’ve gone from spending for immediate pleasure to saving for the far future—thinking 10, 20, 30, even 100 years ahead. I could never think like this about dollars. It felt hopeless.
Bitcoin is one of the only things that gives me hope in this crazy modern world. Most people probably think I’m crazy, or a conspiracy theorist, but the truth is, money is fake—whether it’s dollars or Bitcoin. The difference is, Bitcoin is perfectly engineered money. It will appreciate in value over time, while the U.S. dollar depreciates.
This simple idea transformed my life. If I can store money for the future and know with 100% certainty that it will increase in value, I’ll consume less and focus on providing more value to the world. I believe this can fundamentally change the way society lives.
A New Paradigm
“I feel like Satoshi is that genie in the bottle—omniscient knowledge, wisdom, and truth.”
I think society needs a money with a hard cap of 21 million coins. That’s the truth. Money printers enrich the corrupt while the rest of us stay poor, endlessly enslaved to a fiat system we never agreed to.
What I also love about Bitcoin is that it’s a choice. Whether or not you adopt it doesn’t affect me—it’s your decision. You can choose to stay in the system of green fiat currency and slavery, or you can adopt orange and join the freedom party.
For me, adopting Bitcoin is my way of opting out of the corrupt system. It’s my way of cleansing the temple, flipping the tables of the moneylenders, taking sovereignty over my time, my life, and my money.
Bitcoin gives me hope because it’s the only true thing in this world that I know I own with 100% certainty. Even if you own a home, you don’t really own it—the government does. You’re still paying property taxes.
I want ownership that’s free from intermediaries, that I can transfer and transact globally. At the end of the day, I’m a citizen of the world. I’m a cosmopolitan. I’m a free thinker, someone who seeks sovereignty over my life and my time—someone who can’t be put into a box.
It’s time for Gen Z to rise up, escape this rat race, and leave the rigged system that doesn’t want you to be free. Let’s take our property, leave the anthill, and become citizens of the world.