Response Paper #6
Growing up with a single Mother, I never was aware of my “social status.” It was never about the things we had or what we did. Respect was always the most important thing though – to respect your name and those around you were always number one. I feel that because of that, there always was a sense of false consciousness in my mind. I believed that I was on a level that I really wasn’t, or I was just completely unaware that there even were “levels.” I know that my Mom worked hard for everything we had and all of the special things we did, so I never really knew how hard she did work for that. I have become aware of this and what my class position would be in society. As I get older and do more for myself, and as I am on my own now, you really begin to realize how hard you do have to work to obtain and maintain a certain level in society.
My Uncle and Aunt always had more money and I watched them spoil my cousin. They knew how hard my Mom worked growing up as we did not have a second income, so they tried their best to do special things for us on holidays or during the years. Because of this, now that I am older I realize that I have experienced things that are tremendous and that not everyone gets to see or do. As I talk to more people in my every day life, I realize that as much as my Mom struggled, we were still in a very privileged position.
The area that I grew up in is one of the richest in the country. To see these huge homes around my town was and is still such an amazing thing to me. I grew up in a townhouse, so to see people affording such huge homes is out of my mind; I always ask, “What do people do to afford this?” I will never understand it, even to this day. When I was a child, because of our area, I had friends and people I knew who grew up in huge homes. Now that I am older, I have completely gotten a sense of what that means and how it really affects people. On the other end of the spectrum though, when visiting other cities you see homeless people around and it is quite an affecting scene. For me to be able to see all different statuses of life, it has completely been gratifying and eye-opening. It has made me aware of where I stand in the social hierarchy, where others stand, and how it really affects people.
As I looked at the chapter, I noticed a chart revealing the percentage of wealth, and I thought about what is happening today in regards to the 99% versus the 1%. This may be a little off in the topic of class position, but I think that more people are waking up to the idea that wealth is completely distributed off beam in our country. Because of how the wealth is in our country is distributed now, more people are falling to lower and lower class positions when they more than likely would not have been that way. People are struggling more so and class position standards are getting steeper and steeper. The number of people in poverty is rising, more people are losing their jobs and homes, and people cannot make up for lost funds when there are no jobs available. It seems to be a never-ending and vicious cycle right now.
To be unaware of social status is probably one of the best things a person can do for themselves. To enjoy life, respect yourself and others, and live life honorably is the probably the only thing that can bring people pure joy in life. When people worry too much about what they have and whatnot, that is when the struggle and stress sets in. I think that’s why I have always been ok with where I come from and where I am going.
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