Rich Kid-Poor Kid: My First Memories of Class Differences
by Derek Hart reminisces about the times as a child when he noticed that not everyone lived like him and his family.
I especially noticed these socio-economic differences when I came to live with my mother just before my ninth birthday. For the first time, I was living in a neighborhood that had liquor stores at practically every other corner, where the kids I met were mostly living in small apartments with no space instead of houses with lots of space.
Most importantly, I was exposed to a segment of the population that didn’t necessarily have as much money or means as others I had known.
I would go over to the houses of friends in other areas, and I could plainly see the differences between their blocks and mine; the streets were cleaner, the lawns were neater, the walls didn’t have any graffiti or gang taggings on them, and the clothes on their backs were nicer.
Seeing all of this, it became fairly obvious that there were families out there who lived better than my family.
I continued to notice these class differences as I grew older and entered high school. Certain cliques would drive their cars, sometimes BMWs, into the student parking lot while I either walked or took the bus, take expensive SAT prep courses, go on vacations to all kinds of places, including Europe, and spend summers at lavish camps, while I spent school breaks with my grandmother.
Yes, I felt that it was all a bit unfair. It seemed like I was unnecessarily barred from the good life for no good reason, like there was some big boss sitting on a throne somewhere saying, “So-and-so gets this, and you don’t.”
I did not know at the time that I was seeing the nature of American and capitalist society, that there are haves and have-nots. I was also unaware of the fact that the kids and families that had more than I and my family did worked very hard for their big house on the hill, their luxury cars, their designer clothes, and their vacations and summer camp jaunts. It wasn’t until I became an adult that I understood this concept - anything you get in this society, you have to work for and earn.
At least for the most part.
When I think about it, it’s safe to say that noticing these class differences as a kid led to my first life lesson on how the world, particularly American society, works, and it has helped me to understand things as time went on.
I think that is something worthwhile.
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