Examining my privilege

[scarlettina]

I don't typically think of myself as "rich." Comparatively speaking, financially, I'd say I'm comfortably middle class, if such a thing still exists in these United States. Every now and then--such as my trips to Kenya or Europe--I am reminded that my self-perception isn't wholly accurate in the context of the larger world, that I have resources

Comments

[joycemocha]

Hmm. Most of the time when I've had my nails done, we either don't talk (the salon where I now go for pedicures, the stylists are frequently talking to each other rather than us) or we talk about style. My first manicurist and I talked about work, because manicure work was a side job for her and she was moving into a full-time job at my husband's company. Since it was an x-ray tech job, and I know just enough about it from the husband to be curious and ask good questions, we had good chats about that. She also taught me a lot of things I didn't know about maintaining my nails. At another salon, frequently the owner (male) would talk about his other salon and we'd talk business while he did my nails.

Because of the financial circumstances of large chunks of our families and friendships, we're very aware of our relative financial privilege and don't talk about it. For example, one of my nephews and his family is currently living in a travel trailer. They have a warm family life and manage to cope with chronic illness (his wife has a major back problem) while enjoying themselves. Hey, if you live in a trailer and want to go out to the woods to go camping, you just batten down the trailer and go. This kind of thing has been a part of my life for a lot longer than some of the aspects of my now-privileged life--same for my husband. We grew up working class and we're planning to revert to a lot of those habits in retirement, because it is cheaper.

Manicures are a great personal pleasure, I must say. I started doing acrylic nails in a desperate attempt to fix splitting, pitted, and messed up nails. I stopped doing it because the nails got better; the dremels were hurting my fingertips; and the time cost began to outweigh the pleasure benefit. I passed up on pedicures this summer because I had a big nail growing out. While I miss it, I'm not sure if I'll do them next summer.