Writing some of the wrongs we learned when we were younger…

— 

When I was growing up I got the impression that I was somewhat privileged but not overly so. The house I lived in was a good size, my brother and I went to prep school and we would both visit our grandmother overseas every other summer. But I knew there were kids who didn’t have to share a room and always got what they asked for just the same as there were ‘ghetto’ kids.

After being alive for a couple of years and internalising ideas I’d heard I figured out that no one was better than anyone else but some were still kind of better than others. i justified it as: while I was supposed to pity people that had less than me, 9/10 times they only had less because they were lazy and had a false sense of entitlement.

There were exceptions of course. Like maybe your helper or nanny or whatever you called the domestic help; they were hardworking, pleasant women who had just been dealt a bad hand in life.

As I’ve grown up, widened my circle of friends and acquaintances and examined things I blindly accepted as truth when I was younger, I’ve come to recognise what’s wrong with this belief.

Firstly, when it comes down to it we are all equal even when our possessions or lack thereof might try to convince us otherwise. Secondly, there are a myriad of contributing factors behind the propagation of the ‘lower class’ most of which are outside of the lazy and entitled stereotype.

What of those that didn’t have the strong, positive parental support and guidance that you probably have? What about the fact that not everyone can afford a university education? What of those that had to drop out of school and get a job to support their family? And did you know that when you live in certain areas and you’re honest about that, you’re not likely to get the job even if you are qualified?

Thirdly, this distinction of the ‘classes’ just like anything else is nothing to squabble over. While those in the ‘middle class’ push their noses in the air and back away from the lower class they don’t get any closer to being upper class or being better persons.

Classist (and that’s what this is) ideals get us absolutely nowhere and merely continue a system of unfairness and inequality that allows a small percentage of the population to live lavishly, a larger percentage to entertain false hopes and securities and an even larger chunk of the population to have very little hope at all.