I want to talk about this, but everything that comes out of my mouth sounds lol privileged whitey. So I apologize in advance if I come off that way.
I grew up in a poor family that was absolutely crippled by debt, because that was the only way they could afford to better our family's situation. After my parents divorced, things got waaaay worse for all of us. Eventually my personal situation got better, but that was only because my grandmother moved in with us and used her pension to pay our bills and keep a roof over our head while my dad worked to further his career and pay off the debts he and my mother racked up.
I think because of everything my father has been through, and because of how hard he's worked for the last 25 years at his job, and because of how much he and my grandmother had to sacrifice, he's terrified that someone wants to take it all away from him. He just wants his American Dream, the one he has slaved to earn, and he feels like Obama wants to commandeer it all. No, he doesn't want to share his wealth with everyone in the country. It's his. He worked for it.
So, I can understand his point of view. He grew up barefoot in the holler, he doesn't want to go back there. I remember what it was like to not have food to eat, I remember the collection agencies calling all day, every day. I don't ever want to go back there, either, but I can't neglect to acknowledge I still had a ton of advantages that many other people around me did not. Yeah, I'm where I am today because I worked hard, and I maybe have a little bit of talent, but I think A LOT of it is luck and networking. I know how lucky I am. I feel guilty about having had a little bit of success when people even in my immediate family are in such a bad way.
I don't know. I fail at explaining myself. I just think that there exists a whole generation of people that have advantages because of sacrifices their parents made, they don't know what it feels like to have nothing, and their parents feel the same way my dad does, so it's like all they can do is repeat their parents' mantra without having any of the real experience behind it. If that makes sense. Heh. I'm sure the previous generation had the same shit said about them, too.
my teal deer, let me show you it
I grew up in a poor family that was absolutely crippled by debt, because that was the only way they could afford to better our family's situation. After my parents divorced, things got waaaay worse for all of us. Eventually my personal situation got better, but that was only because my grandmother moved in with us and used her pension to pay our bills and keep a roof over our head while my dad worked to further his career and pay off the debts he and my mother racked up.
I think because of everything my father has been through, and because of how hard he's worked for the last 25 years at his job, and because of how much he and my grandmother had to sacrifice, he's terrified that someone wants to take it all away from him. He just wants his American Dream, the one he has slaved to earn, and he feels like Obama wants to commandeer it all. No, he doesn't want to share his wealth with everyone in the country. It's his. He worked for it.
So, I can understand his point of view. He grew up barefoot in the holler, he doesn't want to go back there. I remember what it was like to not have food to eat, I remember the collection agencies calling all day, every day. I don't ever want to go back there, either, but I can't neglect to acknowledge I still had a ton of advantages that many other people around me did not. Yeah, I'm where I am today because I worked hard, and I maybe have a little bit of talent, but I think A LOT of it is luck and networking. I know how lucky I am. I feel guilty about having had a little bit of success when people even in my immediate family are in such a bad way.
I don't know. I fail at explaining myself. I just think that there exists a whole generation of people that have advantages because of sacrifices their parents made, they don't know what it feels like to have nothing, and their parents feel the same way my dad does, so it's like all they can do is repeat their parents' mantra without having any of the real experience behind it. If that makes sense. Heh. I'm sure the previous generation had the same shit said about them, too.