My friends ask good questions...
My friends ask good question. So I steal them sometimes. :)
This time around, br0d asked (in part):
Are/were your parents blue collar or white collar?
Do you think there is a greater tendency for children of blue collars to get along with other blue collars, and white collars to get along with other white collars?
That's something we're not really encouraged to think about a lot these days. It's not politically correct to dived people up into classes, let alone to imply that classes don't get along.
In my opinion, that kind of "politically correct" thinking ignores the reality of human nature.
By not recognizing the reality of how we interact, we trap ourselves in those patterns. By not talking about that reality, we tacitly encourage the bad parts of it grow unabated, as bad parts of things are wont to do if not checked and fought against.
Growing up in rural New York with parents that came from NYC (my father) and numerous parts of Pennsylvania and New York State (my mother's side of the family moved around a bit when she was growing up), I had a very mixed and balanced upbringing when it came to such things. The diversity quotient in my town was apparently quite above average when compared to many other communities of the same size and geographic distribution.
And when it comes to blue and white collar classes, I think my parents managed to be both at the same time.
Growing up, my father worked at a bank. He started as a teller before I was born and, by the time I was old enough to really think about it, he had climbed to the position of manager (number two guy at the branch) and then branch manager (the dude in charge).
But while he was doing all that, he also spent time running a trash collection business (he and my uncles actually drove the truck around and slung trash cans) and cleaned offices (along with my mother and, every now and then, me).
After he quit the bank, he worked at the bait and tackle shop my parents owned for a while. When that stopped, he got a job with the county in the property office. For now, that's what he's still doing.
My mom, mostly, stayed at home or worked as an aide at the local school. Before I was born, she had worked as an operator (back before computers did most of the work).
My grandparents on my mother's side were both heavily involved in the service industries. My grandfather worked as a door-to-door salesman early on (long before I came along) and then did a good many decades as a bartender at the local resorts. My grandmother worked most of her life as a waitress.
My grandfather on my father's side worked on bridges and in construction (I think) in NYC.
Growing up, we were solidly middle class in my little corner of the world. But that corner was very diverse and it never seemed to make too much of a difference what your background was. What did matter was how you acted and what airs you were willing to put on.
In school, I quickly found myself on the outside of a whole lot. I wouldn't play the games to fit in with the "preppy" type kids and I wasn't into music or marijuana enough to fit in with the metal heads or stoners. (We didn't have a lot of jocks, classic nerds or dweebs... not quite enough people and no major sports teams.) As such, by high school, I could move relatively unnoticed among most groups (though really hanging with the black kids didn't happen much, when it did, there were no real issues--which, in the light of the rest of the world, is kind of strange... but that's another story all together).
From my own experience, I can say that class background didn't matter... but experience did. Since I grew up in kind of a small, wide-spread, economically challenged town, there wasn't a tremendous difference in experience among people who were "locals" (at least none that wasn't artificially manufactured by the afore mentioned airs of society). Without some sort of common base to draw from, it was very difficult to relate to others. That's one of the reasons I have such a wide range of things I've done--most of my life has been spent trying to find a place to fit in.
I found that place, briefly, in college. But it was fleeting and is long gone now.
Most of the time, I still feel like a bit of an outsider. I tend to see things from multiple points of view and have cultivated my natural talent of being "in between" to the point where I can at least appear to fit in most places.
But I know for a fact that most of that is just in my head. In fact, all of it is in my head. Where we fit in--and how we get there--is mostly about the choices we make and what we decide to make of ourselves.
At least that's how it is for people who take control of their life and don't just fall in line with what they think others expect them to be or do. (Those assumptions of others assumptions are often wrong.)
The simple fact is that a good many people--especially those who actually think honestly and openly about the world and their place in it--often feel lost and alone.
I am proud to be part of that group. I am even more proud to continually surround myself with people from that group. If we're going to feel alone, we may as well do it together. And if we talk about it maybe, just maybe, we'll realize we really aren't as "outside" as we feel.
Maybe we'll realize that we're all just made to be parts of the Big Picture. Parts that, as need demands, move among the different pieces that make up that Big Picture. Parts that are there to nudge others along and inspire more discussion.
At least that's what I like to think. What do you think?
This time around, br0d asked (in part):
Are/were your parents blue collar or white collar?
Do you think there is a greater tendency for children of blue collars to get along with other blue collars, and white collars to get along with other white collars?
That's something we're not really encouraged to think about a lot these days. It's not politically correct to dived people up into classes, let alone to imply that classes don't get along.
In my opinion, that kind of "politically correct" thinking ignores the reality of human nature.
By not recognizing the reality of how we interact, we trap ourselves in those patterns. By not talking about that reality, we tacitly encourage the bad parts of it grow unabated, as bad parts of things are wont to do if not checked and fought against.
Growing up in rural New York with parents that came from NYC (my father) and numerous parts of Pennsylvania and New York State (my mother's side of the family moved around a bit when she was growing up), I had a very mixed and balanced upbringing when it came to such things. The diversity quotient in my town was apparently quite above average when compared to many other communities of the same size and geographic distribution.
And when it comes to blue and white collar classes, I think my parents managed to be both at the same time.
Growing up, my father worked at a bank. He started as a teller before I was born and, by the time I was old enough to really think about it, he had climbed to the position of manager (number two guy at the branch) and then branch manager (the dude in charge).
But while he was doing all that, he also spent time running a trash collection business (he and my uncles actually drove the truck around and slung trash cans) and cleaned offices (along with my mother and, every now and then, me).
After he quit the bank, he worked at the bait and tackle shop my parents owned for a while. When that stopped, he got a job with the county in the property office. For now, that's what he's still doing.
My mom, mostly, stayed at home or worked as an aide at the local school. Before I was born, she had worked as an operator (back before computers did most of the work).
My grandparents on my mother's side were both heavily involved in the service industries. My grandfather worked as a door-to-door salesman early on (long before I came along) and then did a good many decades as a bartender at the local resorts. My grandmother worked most of her life as a waitress.
My grandfather on my father's side worked on bridges and in construction (I think) in NYC.
Growing up, we were solidly middle class in my little corner of the world. But that corner was very diverse and it never seemed to make too much of a difference what your background was. What did matter was how you acted and what airs you were willing to put on.
In school, I quickly found myself on the outside of a whole lot. I wouldn't play the games to fit in with the "preppy" type kids and I wasn't into music or marijuana enough to fit in with the metal heads or stoners. (We didn't have a lot of jocks, classic nerds or dweebs... not quite enough people and no major sports teams.) As such, by high school, I could move relatively unnoticed among most groups (though really hanging with the black kids didn't happen much, when it did, there were no real issues--which, in the light of the rest of the world, is kind of strange... but that's another story all together).
From my own experience, I can say that class background didn't matter... but experience did. Since I grew up in kind of a small, wide-spread, economically challenged town, there wasn't a tremendous difference in experience among people who were "locals" (at least none that wasn't artificially manufactured by the afore mentioned airs of society). Without some sort of common base to draw from, it was very difficult to relate to others. That's one of the reasons I have such a wide range of things I've done--most of my life has been spent trying to find a place to fit in.
I found that place, briefly, in college. But it was fleeting and is long gone now.
Most of the time, I still feel like a bit of an outsider. I tend to see things from multiple points of view and have cultivated my natural talent of being "in between" to the point where I can at least appear to fit in most places.
But I know for a fact that most of that is just in my head. In fact, all of it is in my head. Where we fit in--and how we get there--is mostly about the choices we make and what we decide to make of ourselves.
At least that's how it is for people who take control of their life and don't just fall in line with what they think others expect them to be or do. (Those assumptions of others assumptions are often wrong.)
The simple fact is that a good many people--especially those who actually think honestly and openly about the world and their place in it--often feel lost and alone.
I am proud to be part of that group. I am even more proud to continually surround myself with people from that group. If we're going to feel alone, we may as well do it together. And if we talk about it maybe, just maybe, we'll realize we really aren't as "outside" as we feel.
Maybe we'll realize that we're all just made to be parts of the Big Picture. Parts that, as need demands, move among the different pieces that make up that Big Picture. Parts that are there to nudge others along and inspire more discussion.
At least that's what I like to think. What do you think?