I have the life experience to prove it. When I was growing up, it was in a poor working class area surrounded by low-income housing projects. We were treated like white trash. The public schools I went to in the 1970s were exactly like that HS portrayed in that 70s sitcom "Welcome Back Kotter." My school was a decaying brick building covered with graffiti and iron bars on the windows. We had gym in the auditorium because a) there was no gymnasium and b) the playground and basketball courts outside were covered with broken glass and discarded needles. School lunches were usually the kind of bologna sandwiches on Wonder Bread or crusty fish sticks that they serve up in prison cafeterias. Teachers used to mimeograph (the term dates me, I know) lessons because there weren't enough textbooks to go around.
Growing up in that neighborhood, none of us had any hope. Most of my classmates ended up making nothing of themselves or choosing a life of crime (most of which ended up in jail).
Now my parents never went on welfare and they paid taxes just like everybody out in the suburbs but we were considered white trash by society because we happened to live in an urban wasteland in a working class/housing project-infested neighborhood. (We never lived in the projects but they surrounded us nevertheless.)
When you got in trouble with the law, you didn't get the Paris Hilton treatment. You were just moved through the maws of the judicial system like the cattle that society deemed you were.
So I managed to get myself out of that environment by joining the Marine Corps and I never looked back. Now I have a high-paying job and have been able to bring my family up in the upper-middle-class suburbs and what a difference. The school system my kids go to is superb with all the conveniences. The high school just built a $7-million dollar auditorium that is fit for an opera. Every student has their own computer. Of course, the kids that go to these schools are pampered and a little spoiled. But my taxes are no higher than what people pay in the inner city. I know the answer why. My community does not have housing projects and people on welfare. So our tax dollars are able to go more towards schools and infrastructure instead of to lazy bums who sit around watching Oprah all day and buying malt liquor and cigarettes with their welfare checks.
I just feel bad for the kids who are raised in the inner city and feel that they have no hope. I also get very upset with people like Paris Hilton who think they are special and privileged just because they happened to be born on the right side of the tracks.
Well, congrats Sam, you done good.
But you are now enjoying the fruits of your achievement and I don’t see you longing for the old days.
So, I don’t get being jealous of rich folks, I’d be rich if I could just .... win the lottery or something.
We could argue ‘special treatment’ all day. It happens.
Chris Rock has a bit about how his father got sick while he was poor, and his mother got sick after he became rich. He said if people really knew the difference in the level of care based on that alone, there’d be riots in the streets.
As for Paris, I have no doubt the girl hasn’t given one second’s regret to the illegal behavior that landed her in jail, and every waking moment to blaming others for her predicament.
We survived that crap. You joined the MC and I joined the AF in CA to see what other people in other countries are doing. Just the same basically.
I used to feel the same way you do about the better life that people seem to have on the outside of the inner city wastelands. Better schools, better roads, etc.
Then I realized how much extra tax money is spent on extra police and other infrastructure just to keep the people in thug area from killing each other, and to deal with the more expensive aftermath of dealing with the higher concentrations of violent crimes. When you look at that angle you realize that basically the ‘burbs get roughly the same tax dollar attention as the inner cities, but since the people living out in the burbs aren’t trying to kill each other as much they get to spend that money on better teachers, building upkeep, and stuff like that.
Now, I am not addressing the supposedly better treatment Paris got. That’s not really pertinent to my point about people complaining about the better facilities in the outskirts.
Bravo! Several life lessons there.
It's the people who live in the "inner cities" who make them the dangerous slums that they now are. I don't feel bad for them at all.
Great post. I agree completely. If I were the judge, I would determine exactly what I would do to her if she were an average defendant, and do that. I would not increase or decrease her sentence based on her money. We don’t have royalty in this country, and we are not supposed to be corrupt. Treating her with favor would be a form of corruption. This judge has to be able to look at thousands of other defendants, and their victims, and have them know that his sentences are fair and just. If he didn’t treat her like any other person, he would lose that credibility.
Thanks for your post. It’s been my honor to know people like you — not victims, but survivors. Survivors have a depth of soul the pampered will never know.
Great job. You are living proof that the American dream is alive and well.
Semper Fi!
If you want to see it today go sit in the second tier traffic court. It may be called many things in this country but the one where a real judge sentences people for traffic crimes. Not to be confused with the money taking operation of the one run by a JOP or a referee. You will easily see the way the different classes of "citizens" are treated.
Good for you, SA! People CAN make a good life for themselves if they have the motivation to do so. I’m glad you did. Mxxx
You are an American Hero. God bless you. I hope your children appreciate the sacrifices you made to give them a better life.
My late parents immigrated from Hong Kong and left a life of relative luxury with servants, to being reduced to living near the Haight-Ashbury district in the mid-to-late 60's. Legal immigrants like us weren't treated any better than poor Americans...we were considered "trash" too. Nonetheless, my parents made sure that all four kids got a good education. Slacking off the studies and hanging out with bad company was not an option.
I hope Paris Hilton learns a good lesson in Reality Discipline. This is probably the very first time in her life that she's had to take the consequences for her actions. Better late (at 26) than never.
Outstanding,Private!Carry on.