Sitting in a nearly empty restaurant in one of the nicest locations in the area I ordered two tacos as a light lunch. I was picking up my dog Chewy some dried dog food made from a local business at $18 for 5 lbs. Lamb and rice mix about 1.5X what you might pay for a generic version but on par with a reasonable brand. Well, I figured if he gets something nice to eat I might as well also eat so I purchased two reasonably priced tacos at $4.50. They seemed to taste better with the fresh cut grass and floral scent. A lady walks by fashionably dressed with her Pomeranian out of the same boutique pet store I was just in and glances over (Maybe she is hungry 🤷).
The atmosphere was superb and the homes I saw driving there were multimillions of dollars. The type that you would see movie stars, CEO's and famous politicians walk out of as they jump into their new BMW or Mercedes (My friend has one and he complains about the price). For some reason I felt like in my Dickie carpenter jeans and middle class sports car I was going to be pulled over but no one bothered me.
I was at a gorgeous place where the manicured small downtown was built in Euro French style for just the right purchasers. They weren't as nice as the homes I gawked at on the way here but certainly they were still near the million dollar price. I thought to myself what the price of an apartment in the area and figured they likely didn't have any and I do not have a real reason to check (Not in the market. Working on my cabin that is almost paid off. Its rustic with some furniture I made, fireplace, a few pieces of my art on the wall, snow shoes, and history but I feel comfortable.). A perfect neighborhood that any striver in society would more than love to grow up in, dine in, walk around in. A good place to raise kids I suspect because they have their own school (I went to a religious boarding school and that changed my life. Been chasing the elusive deeper meanings of life for a long time. What is profound to me might be useless to another person.)
I can't even imagine how things would have been different if I had the chances some of these people had. They consider me gifted but mostly I'm just a misfit with high intelligence, good values, respectful of different types of people and pretty much beat out every obsticle in my life except the unknown ones yet to come; I think I can get them too! (Rational optimist. Most of life is in your head to just be postive about.). However, I maxed out my environment and that is where the problem of inequality lays. The best and brightest are limited by their environments. We lose much of their human capital because few poeple have insight into lives different than their own and their own world view.
Environment might mean education, investment knowledge, crime, grueling poverty, bigotry, pollution and all the other things that they have to overcome. Once they do overcome those things they are often still blocked from making it to the next leg because they don't have the right social connections. While I'm as sophisticated as any well read, educated, traveled, high class gentleman/gentlelady for the most part my old firefighter scuffed up watch I wear reminds me of the multiple worlds I belong (Reading classics, interpreting scientific studies, do-it-yourself jobs, and an occassional midnight emergency). I guess I am like many fellow Americans striving: limited but diligent. Do the best I can for community and country. Most doors closed but every once in a while even the little guy can find one unlocked. You just have to see it and education, business, and making your world a better place will get you there....it might not be what you expect. The childhood mystery replaced through exposure as one finds the commonalities of all people within our country and perhaps the world (The rich buy shirts for $50, I buy for $20, sometimes $10 off the discount rack, and a few of us only get used. We all still wear shirts and want to look good. Doesn't get more connected than that!)
The waiter gave me a $6.50 bill which amounts to $3 a taco plus tax (I was surprised myself and when I inquired he said its "Just for you my friend.". I retorted, "Taco Tuesday special?" He smiled as though he was caught in a servers' hustle. I served before too and guess I'm still serving in some ways.). Cheaper than I might find in the ghetto and/or the poor rural countryside where I have one time or another resided in both. Some of my friends do live in the ghetto and some do live in countryside trailers. Each with limited opportunities. Even a few friends live in neighborhods just like this with resort style views; no need to judge as they all good people. I took another sip of water and wondered where the approximate 50 cent tax went (If I had a pen and paper I might reorganize some of that to create net positives so we can maximize our hard earned collective dollars. Then will throw it in the trash as a partially solved puzzle no one else is willing to read anway.). I left a pretty good tip because I'm aware. Hang in there my fellow peeps.
Income Inequality in the U.S. You may also want to read about
Your Not Upper Class-Until..
“The unexamined life is not worth living. There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance” -Socrates
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