I always thought I lived a pretty middle-class life and that rings out to be quite true. I was provided with my first car a 2017 bought in 2019, my family helps me to pay for college and I pay some portion of it as well, on my mother’s health insurance (which is great since she works for social security. I lived between Oak Park and Farmington and wasn’t allowed into the city till around 16. Going to school in Farmington I went to school with a lot of kids who were just like me and the other 25-40% were upper middle class and a few who weren’t rich, but they weren’t like the rest of us either. Back then I noticed that these kids had the nastiest attitudes and were very materialistic (which my mom had raised me to be appreciative of nice things but never to flaunt or glorify them).
Whilst working at somerset and many different restaurants in the troy/Royal Oak area these are typically the rudest customers as well. They don’t affect me, most times I don’t really envy them as much as I would’ve thought. I feel like they lack something the rest of society doesn’t, maybe it’s the drive, a lack of substance, empathy, I’m not sure. I feel much different for those in or below my social class, a sense of sadness because I can acknowledge that the American dream is really just means being crabs in a barrel in 2024. Stepping on one another to elevate ourselves. I can admire the people who go and work the 12-hour shifts at amazon (I worked there it sucked), people who get up go to work and still door dash on the side. I do want more for them and for everybody, but I can admire the grit it takes to keep pushing uphill in a capitalist society that’s meant to keep you down.
