(11-29-2019, 01:45 AM)TheO-LineMatters Wrote:

(11-29-2019, 01:05 AM)americus 2.0 Wrote: This is true but the older I've become and the more exposure I have to a variety of socioeconomic groups the more I see that people and their circumstances dictate a lot in their lives. It doesn't mean I agree or disagree, it just is. 

My dad was a mechanic (Nimnicht Chevrolet on Cassat Ave for the win!), my mom was a nurse but became a stay-at-home mom when she and my stepdad got married and went from two kids to five. Stepdad was a UPS driver. Seven people in the house on one income we never owned a new house, new car, new washing machine and used a clothesline to dry clothes. We wore second hand clothing. We were disciplined when necessary, taught to be respectful of people, especially our elders, and had to do chores around the house with no financial incentives. 

I've only been given one thing in my life and that is my now 17 year old Silverado by my dad 10 years ago after my grandfather passed away and dad received money from his estate. Dad paid off the truck as a gift from my grandfather. I will drive that truck until the wheels fall off. 

So yeah, I don't come from anything much either but I have a good life and an thankful for every single thing I have. 

Apology accepted for being a dick head. We all have those moments.

I grew up in a working, lower middle class family as well. My mom worked at a hardware store and my dad worked shift work at a paper mill. Pretty much all my friends were either farmers or came from blue collar families like myself. My dad worked every holiday he could for the bonus pay and would also work as many double shifts as the company would allow. It really took a toll on his health, now that he is old. He's had a new heart valve, two new knees, glaucoma, a detached retina, he almost lost a hand in the machinery, a seious staff infection, he's had a heart attack, a stroke, sleep apnea and dangerously high blood pressure. I'm sure I'm missing some more, but that's just what I can remember off the top of my head. I was raised to get an education and make something of myself, so I won't have to nearly kill myself in a factory like my dad did. I'm certainly not wealthy at all. In fact I drive a 1998 Lincoln Navigator and I'll drive it until it dies, because I cannot afford another vehicle. I just call things like I see them.

I used to, and still do when I know I am right, but I've learned how we see things isn't always the whole story. 

My husband's world has always been very small because he was born and raised in the same county he's lived in his whole life, he's lived in two houses his whole life, his work and family/social circle is very tight. He's never travelled outside of less than a handful of states and never flew in a plane until he was 40 (he's 48 now). He always called things like he saw them too, but his view was very narrow because of his very structured life. That changed when I moved here and we married. We could not be more opposite in how we were raised and our life experiences.

Most of our views are a direct result of our world, our life, our upbringing, our personality, etc. Our capacity to see things a different way only comes from experiencing different ways of life, observing and listening to others who are not like us, and so on. I am not just a product of my upbringing but of a lifetime of the different people I've known, places I've been, and things I've been exposed to, and not all of it by choice. So when I reply to a subject this thread was started in I'm not just seeing it from my POV, I see it from many. It's how I see almost everything. I don't always agree with points of view that are not mine but I recognize that my life experience that leads to my POV is not everyone else's.

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