One of the pillars that make life unfair is wealth, followed by health and natural appearance. The location you are born plays a role to. It is different growing up in the rich suburbs of LA then in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
🏚️Poor kids
You're less lucky if you're born and grow up in an old apartment in Molenbeek (generally a poorer area in Brussels). Imagine your parents aren't living healthy, your room smells, it is cold, and you must live under poor conditions. You've gone a long way as an immigrant. Your parents work hard to learn the language and work long hours to get by. There are no premium trips to far-away destinations. There are no 'luxe problems.'
Working as an in-home telecom technician, going from home to home, this view is not rare to me. These are bare conditions to live in. I often see people living in difficult conditions. I manage to see what's "behind the walls". I see how people live. I often come to all corners of a house (for internet connectivity & installation purposes). I look at people from a psychological viewpoint. Poverty is sometimes at the places we would least expect them to be.
Src image: vrtnws.be: archive
🤑Rich kids
On the other side of the spectrum, we have the rich kids. Not that their lives are essentially all glitter and glamour. There's often significant pressure on them to perform in school and life. They must learn some of the same lessons in life as the kids in the lower income scale. The way they can handle specific problems is, however, different.
Money creates developmental premiums. Studying in other cultures, private schools with personal guidance, access to premium content,….
Rich kids often search for rich kids as their partners. They marry people with a similar amount of capital on balance. Money makes your life easier (if we forget that having a lot of money also generates worries and discussions). Let's be honest: It is fun if your parents have a luxurious apartment in Dubai. Having money makes it so much easier to live, to start new things, or to fail and start over.
It sucks. I want to be like those rich kids doing ‘a summer course’ in Shanghai, have university ‘campus life’ in Spain, take a break in their parents' apartment in Dubai, and travel around the world all at the cost of their rich parents. They have the freedom to discover themselves at least.
Educational shortcomings
This is where a good and equal education system is important. Education does not guarantee a good job or a ticket to escape poverty. Yet, creating a more equal playing field is essential. Public infrastructure should create a balance. When looking back on the state of the education system in public schools, I experienced overly crowded classes, shortcomings of personal guidance, and educational material that was not set to the individual level. Private schools are evidently on the rise in Europe.
Learning skills
I would state that if you're rich, you're having a different view of the world.
If you're rich, you're experiencing things that a poor kid can not do.
You are traveling worldwide, working with private banks,… these are all skills a poor person does not develop. But it's also true to the opposite. A poor kid will develop skills on the street like communication, different job experiences, and learning the value of hard-earned money.
Travel and classes
The middle class in Belgium can travel, but only with limited frequency. Meanwhile, those with lower incomes can only afford to take a walk in the city park. The upper class travels to far-away destinations.
I was browsing through Instagram and came across people who seem to be living ‘the life.’ However, after diving deeper into it, I realized that most of them are fortunate enough to have wealthy parents or inherit a lot of money.
🏋️♂️Health vs 🏥disease
Money is one part of the story. The other important part of the story is health. We wish each other good health on New Year’s Day. That is for a good reason. Diseases are never fair. If you die at 20 from cancer after a long agony, it is excruciating. Someone dying at 90 from a heart attack in her sleep, after a long, healthy, primarily issue-free life, has had more luck.
This is a screenshot from the series A Real Job on VTM Go (Belgian streaming service). You see Frauke. She is only 19 years old. She spends her days receiving chemo at the hospital. She knows she will not make it till her next birthday. It is heartbreaking to see. It is so unfair.
💃Natural Beauty vs. 🐻Grizzly Bear
Some persons are natural beauties, while others are grizzly bears. Some people are seen as incredibly attractive. Without any effort whatsoever, they have a perfect body and a cute face. It is not fair. No matter how well some people eat and train, their looks will never fulfill current society’s beauty standards. If you are a beautiful person, you get hired much easier. It is a competitive advantage!
Conclusion
We can only accept and try our best to create the life we dream about. Life is not fair. It never has & it never will. Despite an unfair life, we can fight back and work hard; with discipline, we can reach higher destinations, regardless of our background.
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