It took me a while to recognize the distinct class differences around me. I went through elementary school in one location and hung around mostly people from a lower class than I, then I moved away and everyone seemed to be in that class, so I guess I didn't recognize it. It wasn't until college that I found out I really don't fall into the middle or lower class, that I'm somewhere in the upper class based on my family, my opportunities, and my own preference.
In most of my Sociology classes the professors like to group all of their students in "the middle class" and claim that it is evident by the fact that we are at USU in sociology classes. If we were "upper class" we'd go to harvard or yale or some other school. I highly beg to differ though. Schooling is only a minor part of class. It is more based on wealth and social status.
I never really realized how different I was from everyone around me until I got involved our family's property holdings. We own a modestly sized ranch, a camp site near hardware park, an expensive home (which right now we are unable to sell because it is the highest priced in the market in our area, and for good reason too!) We manage my late grandmother's estate which right now includes a near the Jordan temple and a few acres of land around the corner from our ranch.
We OWN all of these things. We're debt free. And we also have a substantial chunk of money just sitting in the bank looking for a place to be invested at.
I am able to have nice clothes, a nice car, and nice furnishings. I suppose though that the reason why I was so confused is because my parents taught me how to work like the working class and act like the working class. I had to go to college and learn about how the upper class acts in order to start acting more like an upper class man. All through life I think it caused me a lot of problems because people saw me as this Cocky kid who knew everything and yet acted no different than they did. Little did I know that because I was caught in a financially stable world and acted beneath it, it was creating excess friction between myself and that class of people. They could sense it but not recognize what it was.
My grandfather was a wealthy potato farmer in Idaho--sounds like lower middle class doesn't it? --well he also owns a winter home in St. George and a cabin and dock at Island Park along with his massive farm. He knows, or at least appears to know, many wealthy individuals and actually has a few business deals with private investors in which they loan the money to construction companies to build numerous homes at a time to be sold. I've looked to him for a little bit of how I should act, but I don't think he fully has it down either.
My aunt owns GTI, genetic testing institute in Wisconsin. She started it as a paternal testing company in her basement making kits that can be used to determine the father of a baby. It's grown quite a bit and is worth a lot of money right now. She lives the life of a wealthy person.
So as you can see, it runs in my family. And Family is the greatest determinant to class. The second greatest determinant is what you personal think. And I am starting to believe more and more that I am in the upper class. --It sound snobbish to say that, but I don't mean it that way, all that that means is that I am under different obligations to hold a specific job in order to maintain my lifestyle. I have also been blessed with a few investment tricks that only those already in the upper class share with others. There are fewer secrets when it's in your family.
So with that said, I'm no longer afraid to be in this class. I may be in the lower end of the upper class, but I'm at least comfortable being up here. When I thought I was in the middle class, I really did not fit in and I couldn't figure it out. I learned many tricks to fitting in with them and I'm going to carry those advantages with me--I essentially took the life course of being in all classes and I think that's a really beneficial skill. I owe all of my diplomatic abilities to that, and I also owe all of my diplomatic faults to that (because sometimes I just get frustrated and decide to do exactly the opposite of what I should do and it really ticks people off).
Life is interesting, I think. There is so much for me to learn and understand about how my own life has shaped and I feel as I am definitely on a pathway that leads somewhere spectacular, I just have to keep moving my feet and walk the distance.
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