How do people live like this?

My dad and his family live in a part of the world that has been ravaged by war and politics and other crap for decades. <br><br>He lives in a down trodden rural town, where the only meaningful jobs are in the police and army. <br><br>Just over half the population are out of work and most of those are recipients of government welfare as there is no economic infrastructure left in these areas, they simply don’t exist. <br><br>Over a third of the population are alcoholics. They drink Listerine and perfume and die and no one bats an eye. <br><br>The country is corrupt as hell and yet no one raises an eyebrow. It’s just a normal standard of living. <br><br>A few towns over a family burned to death in a house fire. Nothing unusual. They were just some people. We’re all desensitised to this stuff. Even as a child it wasn’t weird. <br><br>I don’t understand how people live like this. I don’t understand how this is real life on Earth. It just seems so … unrealistic. It’s like walking into a post-apocalyptic movie and realising that this is actually reality for some people. It’s not even like they’re all lazy or stupid. It’s just how they are. A lot of really smart people from there have bettered themselves and left. But a lot stay for no real reason. <br><br>I don’t get it. It looks and feels like a video game where you have no missions other than to wander around day after day after day until your character dies of old age. And everyone’s just knows that this is life and it’s fine for them. <br><br>That’s it. There’s no point to this post. I just don’t get it.