The Life Plan Correction
If you can't find purpose for yourself, someone will do it for you.
Chapter 1
by 
Aphelion
In a world where finding personal purpose and success is guaranteed, how do people see those who â unsatisfied by everything â defy the odds to fail?
With compassion and empathy of course. Seeing day-to-day suffering can only hurt an otherwise satisfied mind, can only do damage to a fragile psyche. Even for those who don't feel sorry for the social dropouts who can't find purpose, they can and do feel the pain of their fellow contributing citizens when those good citizens are harmed by the idea of their fellow human beings suffering through debt, prison, social rejection, or meaninglessness.
To correct these social harms the Life Plan Correction was implemented. Dropouts, those who can't find purpose on their own, are modified with a behavioral chip to give them the purpose they lack in prioritizing what's written in their Life Plan. Of course nobody wants the government controlling their lives more than necessary, so Life Plans are not controlled by the government, but rather assigned to people of utmost responsibility and certainty of purpose that they can be safely burdened with the life of another on top of their own â custodians. Where possible, dropouts are assigned to people close enough to them for a personal bond of empathy, but many are assigned to custodians they've never known before their new life.
The behavior-chip resembles mind-control, but it acts subtly. It fills a hole in peoples lives they never knew they had, a lack of purpose they have filled with mindless rebellion, risk-taking, or intentional failures. How people react to finding purpose for the first time in their lives (or a socially acceptable purpose at least) varies from person to person, but it compels them to live up to their Life Plan even if they resist enjoying it. After their first year a mere rounding error of Life Plan recipients don't consider their lives notably improved by their newfound purpose.
The citizens of this world are happy to see their fellow humans gain a purpose. They don't judge what a Life Plan demands, they dread a meaningless life and are happy to see purpose fulfilled. The means a custodian uses are up to them. Who can judge as they take responsibility for not one life, but two (or more)?
But you know the stakes better than anyone. You are a custodian, or . . . are you a dropout? Do you live with a powerful sense of purpose you can share with another? Or are you chronically unsatisfied with life, unable to find a place in a society except under the control of someone else?
These are stories of control, rule, and possession; stories of care, love, and absolute adoration.