I.
Socioeconomic status is a relevant topic in today’s society. It essentially measures one wealth. From the American physiological association, they define socioeconomic status as follows “Socioeconomic status is the social standing or class of an individual or group. It is often measured as a combination of education, income and occupation. Examinations of socioeconomic status often reveal inequities in access to resources, plus issues related to privilege, power and control.”(https://www.apa.org/topics/socioeconomic-status) In my story https://edusites.uregina.ca/hallefannon/2021/02/09/we-are-all-just-people-on-a-floating-sphere/ I talked about the time I realized this topic was even a topic. I spoke about when I realized some people are wealthier than others, and when I say that, I do not mean that in a mean and rude way. I had talked about when I was in school, and I would always buy brand new school supplies each year, but one year it was the first day of school, and a few kids came to school with nothing but the clothing they were wearing and that put it into perspective for me.
You see, everyone has a socioeconomic status. Take a look at Cambri Daelicks story https://edusites.uregina.ca/cambridaelick/2021/03/19/self-story-3-the-gift-of-giving-2/ Cambri talked about her mom giving away the clothes she had grown out of, “It was such a pure moment that I wish I were old enough to understand why their smiles were so big, but I was too young at the time.” year after year her mom would give away old clothes. She finally asked her mom the question ” “Why do you keep giving away my clothes?” and her answer to that question was my realization. I had never thought of my clothes in a way that could help other girls who did not share my privilege.” Her story is similar to mine in a sense we both realized our privilege in this world.
Looking at Riley Knoll’s story https://edusites.uregina.ca/knoll/2021/03/09/my-high-school-experience-in-a-nut-shell/ he talks specifically about his school, he quickly realized the divide in it. The range being him a wealthy upper-class student who had lots of clothes, his parents drove nice cars, always had a full stomach, etc. He started to notice kids that came to school wearing the same clothes. “I saw many kids who wore the same clothes every day. I was shocked by this,” Riley said. He realized his privilege in society. These stories resonate with me because they are essentially the same as mine in different contexts, but all three recognize our privilege. All three of us are privileged, and we did not realize it, and it never changed. I mean, for me, I realized that I had the privilege, but I was too self-absorbed in my upper-class mentality to do anything to help those that did not have the privilege as I did. I mean, I donated my clothes, and we gave away things we did not use. Nevertheless, why didn’t we go and buy new items and donate them? I could have done so much more when I was younger. This has put into perspective my place and what I need to do to disrupt this class narrative in our society. All three stories reproduce the same big idea, and that is that we are wealthy and privileged. I never realized how the little things in my life were pure privilege, having a bed, a warm house, food at my fingertips, more clothes than days in a month, fresh warm hot water out of every tap, a car to take me to my every need, money for gas, money in general. All of these I take for granted every day because I am privileged. While looking through my other classmates’ stories, I could not believe how many did not share the same concept and story. It was harder to find a story that had wealthier status than ones that did not. That put everything into perspective for me. My normative narratives have shifted completely. I have realized that I am not only wealthy, but I am white and privileged.
II.
For this assignment, I found it a lot more challenging to find stories that related to mine, which shocked me because, in my mind, I thought the majority of people in university must be living above the poverty line. However, I was very much wrong. I found many stories of people who are not wealthy, struggling, to say the least, and that is when I found Khol Williams’s story. https://kholwilliams.wordpress.com/2021/02/27/trauma-of-being-poor/ Khols story shocked me. I was utterly ashamed of myself and my privilege. I was astonished, to say the least, by what I had read. Khol was homeless for many years in his young life. The things he did to survive are unimaginable and heart-crushing to think about. I found myself glued to my laptop, wanting more to read. Khol gave me just a shred of what his life was like. Khol writes, “I would go days without eating, without proper sleep, without warmth, without a shower.” Khol had endured this in Canada, and if anyone knows anything about Canada, it is cold! My story, Cambri and Rileys, is nothing compared to Khols. Our perspective on the topic of socioeconomic status is nothing compared. Khols story not only made me question my whole life and the “little” things I took for granted. It made me realize the “little” things are not so little to everyone. Furthermore, I had never thought about that before reading Khols’s story. I think many people think this way. Someone once told me, “you may think you have it bad, but someone always has it worse. so be grateful” that resonates with me here. Many people have not experienced what Khol has, and it shows. Poverty comes in all shapes and forms—however, it is on no one to judge or blame them for where they are. In our world, we see a homeless person on the street asking for money. I am guilty of refusing to give my spare change because I always think to myself, ” they are just going to spend it on drugs, which is what put them in that position in the first place” Khol gave me an entirely new understanding.
The following reading from class also relates to this topic. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-poor-peoples-bad-decisions-make-perfect-sense_b_4326233 This woman talks explicitly about poor people and what they go through “Poverty is bleak and cuts off your long-term brain. It is why you see people with four different baby daddies instead of one. You grab a bit of connection wherever you can to survive.” She speaks on her life and what she went through. She even talked about wanting abortions because she can’t financially support the children she already has. However, the planned parenthood was 3 hours away, making it virtually impossible for her to get one. These stories put the pieces of the puzzle in place for me. We did a quiz in class called “would you survive living in poverty” not only were the questions arguing that all poor/ homeless people were terrible people, but it made me ask myself. Would I survive? Furthermore, the answer is no. I would not. There are people in our world who are struggling to find food, shelter, and warmth, and I am comfortable in my warm house drinking hot tea and getting a fantastic night’s sleep. I did not even realize the extent of my privilege.
Doing this assignment has taught me that I am super privileged, but it opened my eyes to the bigger picture. Our world and society are so focused on promoting brands and wanting to be like the billionaire Kylie Jenner that we forget about the people struggling to survive. I am guilty of it. I am selfish and privileged. The narratives that are written on poor people need to be erased and burned. Because after reading Kohl’s story, I will not walk past the homeless person on the street and not try and make their day better somehow or help them out. The narrative of all poor people are druggies, or even that they put themselves in their situation is such a privileged way of thinking. I chose this topic because I wanted to learn to educate myself on false narratives. I have a whole new perspective on my life. I am grateful for having a warm bed, a hot shower, food, money, clothes etc. However, I will not turn away from helping someone in need. In the end, we all need to come together to disrupt these narratives. It starts with you and me, so join me on my new perspective of life.
This link will take you to a site where you can donate to homeless shelters:https://www.canadahelps.org/en/explore/charities/category/social-services/sub-category/housing-shelter/
“Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn’t commit.”
— Eli Khamarov, writer
“History is written by the rich, and so the poor get blamed for everything.”
— Jeffrey D. Sachs, economist