Anyhoo, listening to the radio on the drive into work, and what comes on Hair Nation but Poison's "Something to Believe In". And I left it on, because it reminds me of my youth, when something stuck in my craw:
I drive by the homeless sleeping on a cold dark street
Like bodies in an open grave
Underneath the broken old neon sign
That used to read jesus saves
A mile away live the rich folks
And I see how theyre living it up
While the poor they eat from hand to mouth
The rich is drinkin from a golden cup
And it just makes me wonder
Why so many lose, so few win
So few win? Fuck you.
I grew up in the household of a cop and a housewife. No white collars in my 'hood. Both of my parents were first generation Americans. Neither had a college education. None of my grandparents finished high school.
But they all busted their asses to make a better life for their kids. They put good food on the table, kept a roof over their heads, and made sure they worked hard to take advantage of all that was offered to them.
I put myself through graduate school. My sister put herself through law school. I wouldn't say either of us is "drinking from a golden cup", but we're not starving, either.
Because we worked for it. I worked two and sometimes three jobs to put myself through college. I worked a second job in grad school. I've worked hard to get where I am in life, and I'll be damned if I'm going to be made to feel guilty about it. This is America, G-d dammit, and "the good life" is there for the taking.
Pretending otherwise is bullshit. Plain and simple bullshit, used to excuse laziness. Or, as someone more cynical might think, to make the "cradle to grave" nanny state (that punishes the successful and coddles the lazy) more attractive...
Fuck that shit. Life is what you make of it. GIGO. Can't handle it? That's your problem. But don't you fucking dare try to put me down because I put more into it...
3 comments:
Great post Jay. It had the fervor and smoke. Just don't let it get your BP up and go do it again. Your on a roll.
A pleasure to read. Thanks.
Mike
Jay, I'm somewhat sobered by looking at many of my old friends from the SCA - many of them are still dirt poor and working at menial jobs. But they're high-ranking members of the SCA because they've spent most of their free time there... whereas I've spent 16 years working in the telecom field, gaining seniority, experience and KNOWLEDGE. Sure, I'm not a Duke... but I can afford all my own toys and if I want to go somewhere, I don't have to see if I'm going to eat ramen for a week to do so.
*sigh* Guess it's just priorities. Work to play or play to work.
Mike,
No worries on the BP (that was 99% me being an inactive lardass rather than letting things get to me) but thanks - this is my outlet now (well, this and going to the range, that is).
And thanks for the compliment.
Ross,
I had a very similar experience almost 10 years ago when we went back to the college my wife and I graduated from (Fitchburg State in lovely Fitchburg, MA).
There was a get-together dinner for my wife's class, which coincidentally I had many friends in (I was a year earlier). My wife and I were the ONLY professionals at our table of 10. One of the guys there, a buddy of mine, was starting over as a freshman, living in the dorms, at 27 years old. Others were working at menial jobs, some were outside of their field, etc.
I (almost) felt guilty about how well we were doing. And then I thought about how hard we had both worked to get where we were and it passed, much like an unwanted kidney stone through the urethra of life.
And now that I've got THAT horrific mental image stuck in your head, I'll bid adieu... ;)
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