thought.
on thursday, i went with lindsay to the free clinic in guthrie. when we walked into the waiting room, the only people there were a girl who couldn't have been more than a couple of years older than we are, her baby, and her friend. she let us hold her baby and said, "can you believe her daddy ran out on her?" and they were just really nice people.
while lindsay was in the back and i was waiting for her, three or four more groups of people came in. each group was made up of a young woman, her child or children, and sometimes a friend. two of the girls who brought a baby in actually looked a couple of years younger than me. and they were all some of the nicest people i've met in a long time. we only made small talk (celebrities, doctors, their kids), but it was so different from the distant, cold attitude of the people in the waiting rooms i'm used to. not to mention that they cared more about their kids than a lot of people i've known.
first of all i want to say, these women deserve so much more than they have.
secondly--and this is the part i'm ashamed to admit--i've caught myself thinking some really classist thoughts before, and though i always felt a little bit guilty about it (especially because i come from a family that's far from rich myself), i never really thought about it that much. i'd never been in a situation that has proven me so very wrong.
everyone in my immediate family is both intellectual and cultural. i've found that a lot of uu families (and non-uu, don't get me wrong) are the same way. however, because we don't have a lot of money, i grew up in a neighborhood that was less than ideal. most of the lower-class people i've encountered outside of church were in an environment like middle school or high school; generally the kids who rode my bus. the way they acted always reinforced my misinformed belief. it's even the same way at uco; because it's not an expensive school, the student population is comprised of very few upper- or even upper-middle-class people. not to mention the fact that the only teenage mother i really knew in high school was a girl in my choir who was kind of...annoying and bitchy. and that was before she was pregnant, in addition to during and after. i think that because i had a bad opinion of her, i started unknowingly stereotyping most teenage mothers, which is horrible.
not to mention that i had long ago written guthrie off as a hick town full of people who were beneath me, just because of the few people from guthrie i had met who...well...weren't named lindsay, sam, or lacey.
in any case, i'm glad i went to the clinic with lindsay. i still feel really guilty now that i realize i had this prejudice i'm just becoming aware of. but the fact that i've been proven extremely wrong in that respect is refreshing.
college really is a time of discovery.
also, i should seriously be writing my review for class tomorrow instead of going on about my classism.
while lindsay was in the back and i was waiting for her, three or four more groups of people came in. each group was made up of a young woman, her child or children, and sometimes a friend. two of the girls who brought a baby in actually looked a couple of years younger than me. and they were all some of the nicest people i've met in a long time. we only made small talk (celebrities, doctors, their kids), but it was so different from the distant, cold attitude of the people in the waiting rooms i'm used to. not to mention that they cared more about their kids than a lot of people i've known.
first of all i want to say, these women deserve so much more than they have.
secondly--and this is the part i'm ashamed to admit--i've caught myself thinking some really classist thoughts before, and though i always felt a little bit guilty about it (especially because i come from a family that's far from rich myself), i never really thought about it that much. i'd never been in a situation that has proven me so very wrong.
everyone in my immediate family is both intellectual and cultural. i've found that a lot of uu families (and non-uu, don't get me wrong) are the same way. however, because we don't have a lot of money, i grew up in a neighborhood that was less than ideal. most of the lower-class people i've encountered outside of church were in an environment like middle school or high school; generally the kids who rode my bus. the way they acted always reinforced my misinformed belief. it's even the same way at uco; because it's not an expensive school, the student population is comprised of very few upper- or even upper-middle-class people. not to mention the fact that the only teenage mother i really knew in high school was a girl in my choir who was kind of...annoying and bitchy. and that was before she was pregnant, in addition to during and after. i think that because i had a bad opinion of her, i started unknowingly stereotyping most teenage mothers, which is horrible.
not to mention that i had long ago written guthrie off as a hick town full of people who were beneath me, just because of the few people from guthrie i had met who...well...weren't named lindsay, sam, or lacey.
in any case, i'm glad i went to the clinic with lindsay. i still feel really guilty now that i realize i had this prejudice i'm just becoming aware of. but the fact that i've been proven extremely wrong in that respect is refreshing.
college really is a time of discovery.
also, i should seriously be writing my review for class tomorrow instead of going on about my classism.