Kim, I love this and it really reminded me of how much it frosts my cookies when people preach about "pulling up by the bootstraps." The expectation that the poor are supposed to somehow rise above on their own steam when we all know that the wealthy use their connections ALL THE TIME. I was a first generation college student and I remember feeling lost at sea - I needed my friends from wealthier families to show me how to utilize the tools at my disposal, because I wasn't even aware of them.
kim please pass along the general message of: hang in there Johnnie, we’re all rooting for you! and kim thank you again for your incredible writing and bringing this to light.
Social Capital is the Queen of "getting things done" in life. My former husband was so incredibly different from his family I asked him why he thought that was. He said when he was a kid (in the 70's) he and his brother were sent to church on the church bus. There was a bachelor at church who was a WW II vet and once a month would take the boys that rode the bus, out to hike or set up camp or go to a museum in the next town over, talk about life and at the end, he would buy them all an RC (soda pop). He said that the man's views were so different than his own family's and he didn't seem to have the chaos in his life that my ex's family had in theirs, he decided to be like him. It was an absolute conscious choice. That man is long gone but I hope he knows that he made a huge difference in my former husband's life and certainly in the next generation and all those generations to come. I was born with lots of social capital and I've been lucky enough to use it throughout my life in my career and now more than ever, in my retirement. Johnnie is very lucky to have you!!
You’ve made such a difference for this lady.
I hope. :) She deserves it. (And we all did it, community is so great, sometimes)
I love the idea of a library of privileges. I was happy to give something to help support Johnnie. It’s tough that its so hard to do good…
Kim, I love this and it really reminded me of how much it frosts my cookies when people preach about "pulling up by the bootstraps." The expectation that the poor are supposed to somehow rise above on their own steam when we all know that the wealthy use their connections ALL THE TIME. I was a first generation college student and I remember feeling lost at sea - I needed my friends from wealthier families to show me how to utilize the tools at my disposal, because I wasn't even aware of them.
kim please pass along the general message of: hang in there Johnnie, we’re all rooting for you! and kim thank you again for your incredible writing and bringing this to light.
Social Capital is the Queen of "getting things done" in life. My former husband was so incredibly different from his family I asked him why he thought that was. He said when he was a kid (in the 70's) he and his brother were sent to church on the church bus. There was a bachelor at church who was a WW II vet and once a month would take the boys that rode the bus, out to hike or set up camp or go to a museum in the next town over, talk about life and at the end, he would buy them all an RC (soda pop). He said that the man's views were so different than his own family's and he didn't seem to have the chaos in his life that my ex's family had in theirs, he decided to be like him. It was an absolute conscious choice. That man is long gone but I hope he knows that he made a huge difference in my former husband's life and certainly in the next generation and all those generations to come. I was born with lots of social capital and I've been lucky enough to use it throughout my life in my career and now more than ever, in my retirement. Johnnie is very lucky to have you!!
Thank You for sharing this post and update,Your perspective is of great value!