Born in the Real World, Living in the Matrix - Immigrant Life In America Explained

Woodring Is Morpheus - Find Out How Deep The Rabbit Hole Goes...

I told him I am an immigrant. Born in Haiti. Raised in the United States. And because I live between two worlds, because I understand and appreciate both worlds, I am able to compare them constantly.

To explain it clearly, I borrowed an scene from one of my favorite movies of all time: The Matrix.

One world is the Matrix.
The other is the real world.

For me, Haiti represents the real world.

Two Worlds, Two Realities

In Haiti, life is simpler. Not easier, but simpler.

Despite what you may hear in Western news media, in Haiti and in many so-called third world countries, life is concentrated around family, community, and survival. You know who you are connected to. You know where your food comes from. You know what matters.

Most Haitians own the land and the house they live in. It may be a shack by world standards, but it is owned free and clear. Because of that, the question "Where will my family sleep tonight?" is not the constant anxiety it is for many people living in America.

Even those who rent, struggle, and live in the larger cities across Haiti usually have a place somewhere in the countryside they can run to in troubled times. A place to weather the storm. There is food grown on ancestral land. There is shelter. There is family.

"Lakou Lakay" is the word for it.
"Konbit" is another. It describes togetherness, shared labor, family and community standing together, one hand washing the other.

in Haiti and in many so-called third world countries, the focus for the average person is more on what I need rather than what I want. I used to criticize that part of the Lord's Prayer: "Give us today our daily bread." After experiencing how hard it is in America just to earn enough for that daily bread, I have come to accept something important.

Good enough is good enough.

In the United States, life is centered on the individual.
Individual success. Individual failure. Individual debt.

You leave mom and dad and start your own family. The moment you do that, everyone else becomes "the in-laws" or "the relatives." Family is reduced to mom, dad, and the kids. The people who live under one roof. The people who share the same bills. The people on the same "family plan."

If you live at a different address, or worse, a different city, state, or zip code, you are no longer family. Not really.

It is great for the economy.
Great for capitalism.

You are told you own things, but only as long as you keep paying for them.

The house, the car, the lifestyle, all belong to someone else the moment you fall behind.

If you have ever gone through foreclosure, if you have ever had to file for bankruptcy, then you know exactly what I mean. One day your business is booming. You have a safe, secure job. The paycheck keeps coming. Life feels good. Then the money slows down, and suddenly you realize how much trouble you were already in.

You spend thousands of dollars a year eating in fancy restaurants, while throwing bags of food into the garbage. Food you did not finish eating. Food that went stale in an overpacked refrigerator.

It is called abundance.

Yeepie.

Good for you.

Also, in the United States, you are constantly shown what you should want, what you should buy, what you should chase, while quietly being trained to live stressed, exhausted, and dependent.

It is a beautiful illusion.

A well-designed system.

A Matrix.

The Red Pill Moment.

As the conversation continued, the man paused and said something that surprised me.

"You know what," he said, "my Nigerian wife has been talking about buying land back home and building a small house. Maybe I should really start thinking about it."

Then he shared something personal. He told me he was born in a small town in the backwoods of America. His family planted crops. They lived close to the land. Before the city. Before the noise. Before the pressure.

Living in a big city now, those memories make him understand exactly what I meant.

That was his red pill moment.

When You Have Nothing to Compare

Many people born and raised in the Western world know only one system.
One rhythm.
One definition of success.

They have nothing else to compare it to.

And without comparison, the Matrix feels normal.

I say this without apology: some people are born inside the Matrix and never realize there is another way to live.

But I was fortunate.

I was born in the real world first.

So when I arrived in the Matrix, I already had something to measure it against.

A $100 Plate vs a Real Meal

I will eat a steak in a fancy restaurant for $100 a plate, but I know something most people don't.

There is a place in my real world where a farm-raised chicken, cooked simply, with organic food grown nearby, tastes better than anything served under white tablecloths.

Not because it is expensive.
Because it is real.

Heritage as Protection

Knowing where you come from is protection because it gives you a reference point. When you understand how people lived before the noise, before the debt, before the constant pressure to consume, you are less likely to confuse illusion with progress. You can admire comfort without worshipping it. You can participate in the system without being owned by it.

Heritage protects you from chasing illusions because it reminds you that value does not begin with price tags or social approval. You have already seen life function with less, and still produce meaning, dignity, and connection. That memory makes it harder to be seduced by lifestyles designed to keep you working but never arriving.

It also protects you from endless debt. When you understand that survival does not require excess, you become intentional. You borrow less. You need less. You measure success by stability instead of appearance. Debt loses its power when you no longer believe comfort must be financed.

Most importantly, heritage protects you from waking up too late. From realizing, after decades of effort, that you spent your entire life running in place. Working harder every year just to stay afloat. Knowing where you come from keeps you grounded enough to stop, evaluate, and choose differently while there is still time.

Being raised in America does not require surrendering your heritage.

And being proud of where you come from does not mean rejecting progress.

It means choosing awareness.

The Matrix Was Ahead of Its Time

Most people watched that movie, The Matrix, as a science fiction movie.

Some of us recognized it as a documentary.

The movie was not about machines.
It was about systems.
Debt. Control. Distraction. Comfort without freedom.

And just like in the movie, the hardest truth is not that the Matrix exists.

It is that many people are comfortable inside it.

If you found this article meaningful, there is a follow-up piece that goes deeper into the ideas behind it. It explores some additional thoughts I intentionally left out here to keep the focus clear.

Read the follow up article:
The Red Pill and the Blue Pill: What The Matrix Was Really Asking Us

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