A family of four skis in front of us. They are all wearing what look like new brightly colored Spyder jackets. The mother is thin, the father fine looking in his coordinating bright jacket-what does it take to have such a husband? The children attentive and well behaved-in the 30 seconds I could observe them.
A mother and her son and daughter sit at the sushi bat next to me. The 3-4 year old daughter is wearing a fluffy white vest and Ugg boots and she places a dazzling unicorn on the counter next to her. Her mother pulls out a note pad and set of markers for the daughter to occupy herself. The mother with her perfectly done hair and trim body is equally well dressed in the latest clothes down to her Ugg boots. The husband finally walks in to join them. Nice looking in his own way. He brushes his wife's shoulders and hair in a loving gesture as he takes his seat next to her.<\p>
I tally all their expenses. The cost of skiing and their outfits, the gym membership, the time to cultivate such a happy life. The clothes, the sushi-the sushi they've obviously eaten in the past because even their young children like it, the gym membership, the time to go, the happy family. I judge them. But what is the verdict? Wealthy? Snobbish? Phony?
In both cases I am next to them. We are also here on the ski hill; my son wears his new Marmot ski jacket and no rental skis. I'm also wearing a new Burton jacket, new helmet, all fashionable enough. (The skis and jackets were bought on a steep clearance, but that's not noticeable. At Tiger Sushi we are also here with plates of sushi in front of us-we've obviously eaten it before, with the vigor that my own son gobbles it up. No one can see the many times we've bought our own fish to make sushi more affordable for us. He's dressed well enough too, though all his clothes are either purchased used or on a steep clearance, maybe their's are too. And you also can't see that we are headed to a theater for a show that I did not buy used or clearance tickets to-quite the opposite. I paid dearly for those tickets, granted I found the best deal I could, not quite upper upper balcony but upper balcony. During the performance, more than once I wished to be closer to see their expressions, but I reminded myself that there's a time for that: later. It's also obvious if you're judging me that either I don't have the gym membership or the time. But what conclusion would you draw about me? Rich? Snobbish? Phony? But these are hand-me-down clothes or last year's clearance items. This is one night of splurging. i've had to save for a while to be able to do this all. Skiing was an expensive initial investment but after that it's pretty affordable.
Maybe my ski and sushi neighbors saved for their own events. Maybe their clothes are hand-me-downs too. Maybe this is the one splurge in their own budgets. Why must I be so quick to judge and why am I so afraid of be categorized as wealthy while also wanting to be wealthy? Because Wealth implies snobbish and/or phony? Why? Must it? What do other people see when they look at these families? What do they see when they look at me?<\p>
Posts
