Winning in life, lying, advantages, frienemies
I love how fat Jo has become. But, it is unacceptable how fat I have become. It is seriously time to put a stop to it.
I saw a photo of Jo's sister. Funny how you catch a glimpse of a person in different stages of life in side by side snapshots like that. The last "snapshot" I have of her in my memory is her "on the move," running into her room to get the latest issue of the Abercrombie & Fitch magalogue. She was so cool with her finger on the pulse of the trends in the moment. Fast forward to now, the snapshot of her doing some activity outside with her kids, a beaming smile on her face, some kind of marathon or a beach day. Still on the move, still engaged in the "cool activity for her age group." That's what it's all about, isn't it. What is popular. It just so happens then it was the Abercrombie magalogues and now it's having kids. Still popular, still doing the right thing. Meanwhile, Jo has become quite fat and does not have any photos of his kids posted. His mother posts photos happily playing with her grandkids from Jo's sister, but not the ones from Jo. I find this all very amusing. In a sadistic way? Maybe. I'm really not sure how to describe it. Schadenfreude.
You know what it is, people who were born with a big leg up in the world. Going to the right schools, taking the right classes. Private schools, parents with money. These people didn't have to work during college. They took all the AP classes in high school. They could easily afford Kaplan to help them get a good score on the LSAT, MCAT, etc. most importantly, they were born into a set of expectations, into a world and family that expected them to be lawyers and doctors like it was manifest destiny. I was born into a family that didn't have such high aspirations, had no idea what to dream or how to make it a reality. I wasn't taught what to strive for and how to make it come true. And so, when I see people who did have all those advantages fail, or at least gain more weight than me, I feel like we are on a bit more equal footing.
Will I catch up to their success one day? Will I surpass them? With my steadfastness to my goals, purity of motivation, truth and honesty, the truth being that I have been right all along, maybe someday I will pass them on the highway of life. I will look in my rear view mirror and smile. Our paths crossed in life. We shared a common set of coordinates in the space time continuum. We shared a certain time period of shared experience: the drugs, the alcohol, the travels, the parties. Our paths diverged some time ago and now they really veer off in far different directions. When I pass them on the highway, I will look back and smile, because they have been ahead of me for a while on the highway of life, but in the end it is I who will win.
I saw a photo of Jo's sister. Funny how you catch a glimpse of a person in different stages of life in side by side snapshots like that. The last "snapshot" I have of her in my memory is her "on the move," running into her room to get the latest issue of the Abercrombie & Fitch magalogue. She was so cool with her finger on the pulse of the trends in the moment. Fast forward to now, the snapshot of her doing some activity outside with her kids, a beaming smile on her face, some kind of marathon or a beach day. Still on the move, still engaged in the "cool activity for her age group." That's what it's all about, isn't it. What is popular. It just so happens then it was the Abercrombie magalogues and now it's having kids. Still popular, still doing the right thing. Meanwhile, Jo has become quite fat and does not have any photos of his kids posted. His mother posts photos happily playing with her grandkids from Jo's sister, but not the ones from Jo. I find this all very amusing. In a sadistic way? Maybe. I'm really not sure how to describe it. Schadenfreude.
You know what it is, people who were born with a big leg up in the world. Going to the right schools, taking the right classes. Private schools, parents with money. These people didn't have to work during college. They took all the AP classes in high school. They could easily afford Kaplan to help them get a good score on the LSAT, MCAT, etc. most importantly, they were born into a set of expectations, into a world and family that expected them to be lawyers and doctors like it was manifest destiny. I was born into a family that didn't have such high aspirations, had no idea what to dream or how to make it a reality. I wasn't taught what to strive for and how to make it come true. And so, when I see people who did have all those advantages fail, or at least gain more weight than me, I feel like we are on a bit more equal footing.
Will I catch up to their success one day? Will I surpass them? With my steadfastness to my goals, purity of motivation, truth and honesty, the truth being that I have been right all along, maybe someday I will pass them on the highway of life. I will look in my rear view mirror and smile. Our paths crossed in life. We shared a common set of coordinates in the space time continuum. We shared a certain time period of shared experience: the drugs, the alcohol, the travels, the parties. Our paths diverged some time ago and now they really veer off in far different directions. When I pass them on the highway, I will look back and smile, because they have been ahead of me for a while on the highway of life, but in the end it is I who will win.