Blue collar

The idea of social class and the connotations associated with it has always made me uncomfortable - so I'm going to do my best to address this. While I try to see through social class in day to day life, there are undeniable value and culture differences in the overall mentalities between people of different backgrounds.

Make no mistake, my parents have done well for themselves. And in no way am I trying to portray myself as someone I'm not. But their background is different than most people who are well off: my mom, who was brought up in a single-parent household in the sixties when the idea of a mother being the sole breadwinner was a preposterous idea. And my dad, who grew up in a military household under my grandfather, a strict and successful ex-Marine who also came from nothing thanks to the GI bill.

I think I was raised differently. My parents have always been frugal spenders. For the longest time I grew up with the idea that one should only have really what's necessary. We never took trips overseas, we went to national parks and occasionally got to travel to the Carribbean to spend time with my grandparents and extended family. My dad has a sports car, but that's because he won it in a raffle at a trade show. I never had any of the nice flashy things that all my friends had in elementary school. It was really frustrating being the only kid at a sleepover who was awful at CoD simply because I didn't have an Xbox. And when I got old enough to get a job, (after my mom sat me down in High School and said "you need to get a fucking job"), I was told to put the most effort I could into that job because hard work was said to be the most important thing. (This mindset is probably what burned me out over the past few months, but that ship has sailed....)

I'm not complaining for the most part. I'd like to think I was raised well, and words from lots of the adults I've worked with seem to echo that. But sometimes I've had trouble getting along with people who don't see things the same way I do, especially with roommates. My current roommate is overall a good roommate, but he definitely comes from a better-off background. My freshman roommate was the same way: privileged, having grown up with a yacht and a condo on Miami beach. For one reason or another, I often find it hard to not focus on the differences. I need to stop carrying a chip on my shoulder.

The differences I perceive end up creeping into my relationships with people, and I need to let those differences, real or perceived, not get to me. But it's hard, in college, when you're surrounded by people who are either from money or who are from more normal family backgrounds. It's hard when I go on facebook and see everyone having a fantastic time studying abroad and hardly studying at all, or partying to an excess and not having any perspective, worries, or cares in the world.