Ramblings about social class

What do you think of when you hear the term “class?”

Do you think of a senior class in college or high school? Do you think of a classroom with students glancing at the clock? Or do you think of social class and the stigmas that are associated with it?

I am taking about social class. Specifically, the lower class who are on the poverty line and struggling to find ends meet.

There are many families who are struggling everyday to survive. Not live, not thrive, survive.

What about the people who do not have a family to support them? What about the struggling college student who has no family to support them through college?

I am not as alone as I could be. I have friends who are loyal, a boyfriend who will stand by my side no matter what, and grandparents who will always let me crash in their guest room on holidays.

What about students who don’t have that support system? No family to guide them? Trying to work your way through school is hard, I would know.

Do you think the government helps students survive? With the pending cuts of the bridge cars I would have to say that they are being more of a nuisance than a help. I personally do not use a bridge card, but what about those that do rely on it?

In a sad way, I am glad that they are people out there who are worse off than me. It makes me feel that I am not that bad off and that I am strong enough to get through anything I put my mind to.

Maybe we can’t really understand someone’s situation unless we have been in a similar situation ourselves.

I get irritated when I hear a middle class student talk about how hard his life has been because no one liked him in high school or he hates his sibling. Your life is that hard huh? Talk to me when you are hungry and have no money. Or when you worry about paying off student loans, oh right, Mommy and Daddy and paying for you to get C’s in your classes.

Take the time to appreciate what you have and sympathize with others you do not have the means you do. But don’t give them you pity. We hate that.

Chewing gum is annoying

Num, num, num, chomp, chomp, chomp, squish, squish, squish…..and then the screaming begins.

Chewing gum is popular and has been for a long time. I get it. It gives people something to do with their mouths and they are satisfied with the unique flavor of collected saliva and dead tissue.

Not so bad. Look around you in the classroom, in the dining halls, movie theater, anywhere you go you will see people chewing gum. Everyone, your grandparents, parents, siblings, and classmates are chewing.

Why? What is so important about this tiny strip of chewable, flavored, irritating piece of food?

It can give people something to focus on when they are bored. It helps people stop bad habits like smoking, or biting their nails, and gets them hooked on another habit!

Look around you, what do you see? A bunch of people chewing gum, most with their mouths open chewing as hard as they can and attempting to outdo each other when it comes to noise.

Pop! There goes another bubble. In class during a test! What is wrong with this picture?

Are we not already rude enough by texting during a verbal conversation or IMing when we are talking on the phone to a different person? We have to add auditory annoyance to the mix?

Personally, I think gum chewing is perfectly fine, when it is done discreetly and with sensitivity others nearby.
I ask, nay, plead with you to be respectful to those around you and either put the gum away, or let it be neither seen nor heard!