I think Steemit is a great place for meeting people, but at the end of the day very different realities collide with each other, and it sadden me to say that it's probably not very homogenized and that there is an obvious incompatibility.

There's people at the bottom of the pond that fight to "live another day", with a very limited vision (as it's harder to project yourself in the future with no money) and probably expect a little bit too much from this platform
Then you have a non-existent middle class, that has left the boat a long time ago, as they are probably less patient than the lower class, and very aware of their skills. 
When they realized how rigged the game was, they decided that they wanted no part in it and took their talent somewhere else.

Finally you have the upper class, that doesn't need to withdraw their STEEM because they have enough to HODL for a lifetime, and give their advice to the 2 other classes on the way to handle their portfolio, but of course there's an intellectual, emotional and spiritual gap that will never be reached for most people. 

It's very much like trading, when you have very limited capital, you are a "day trader" as you cannot afford big loss, then become a swing trader as you get more leverage growing your capital , and finally there is fundamental traders that can afford to lose everything.

> Depends what you consider investing into yourself as I am investing into myself here also.

What I mean by investing in myself, is that I'd rather invest in skills and knowledge, and after a year of being this, I saw ( please don't take it personally because you are probably different) that a lot of people at the top of the Steemit blockchain see this place as a game, and the further you go down that chain, the game become more and more realistic and a little bit sad.

> Everyone is free to do as they please and spend their time where they please.

You are right it's a free market, I just really don't know if it's the vision of the world I want to see. I was at Steemfest this year, and pretty much noone there needs to work, living a life light years away from the reality of most people.


> Do you have children?
Yes.

I can't help but think what sort of values we are teaching to them through this experiment, and what are we trying to accomplish here?
Again, the children of minnows and the children of whales will not live in the same world, so they will not get the same lessons from that experiment.
I don't want my children to realize that it's has never been about skills or merit, but you get assigned a random lottery number for life, with very little chance to break the shackles.