Originally Posted by Kjmack
Seems like a person here really thinks quite a lot of themselves which isn't a bad thing , it's a bad thing when you look down at other people who you feel are inferior to you . It's a juvenile sign that you really don't like who you really are inside .
At one time I thought like you , I'm too good to go into these places , that's when I was young and dumb . Look at these people with their dirty cheap attire and crooked teeth .My father set me straight , I was lucky being born into a family with quite a bit of wealth that has been handed down generation to generation . My father taught me to use our means to help other people who aren't so lucky , not to mock them or look down at them . A helping hand sure feels better than a smirk . I did not need to work but I choose to for 27 years , at the age of 50 I choose not to work and spend the majority of my time helping others . I'm glad I did work for a while it showed me how the average family struggles with finances and adversity .
So get off your high horse before someone knocks you off .
I assume you are talking about me.
I must apologize if that was the impression I gave. I want to make a few things clear:
1. I am not a person who enjoys social situations. Never have. The fewer people, the better.
2. If somebody is legitimately in need I will provide whatever help I can. My kids have friends whose homes aren't the most stable setting. I have no problem feeding them, donating clothing...etc. I just got back from donating some toys and clothing to Value Village actually.
3. I had several friends growing up who were incredibly poor. We are still friends, and these are some of the best people I know. I have NEVER looked down on somebody for not having much.
I didn't grow up with your level of privilege so my views are likely a bit different. My parents were reasonably well-off, but we all had to make our own way. Fresh out of school with student loan debt, my first several years weren't comfortable, living in a run-down apartment fuelled by cereal, KD and coffee. Growing up, my grandfather, an Engineer that worked in Hydro-Electric for GE, was adamant that I knew the value of something, be it a good tool or a good boat. Even if you had to save up, you were better off buying something of high quality that would last and could be repaired over something cheap and disposable that you'd have to perpetually replace. This is what fuelled my personal issue with consumerism, as I've watched people close to me go through that cycle of buy, break and replace and it is a hard thing to get away from because it's so pervasive in society today.
Regarding the demographic thing: Our little city has a homeless and drug problem, and it's pretty bad. We have 5x methadone clinics and we also have large tracts of community housing. One of the units a few years back blew up because somebody had a meth lab operation. Some of these folks are extremely sketchy. We've had numerous serious assaults in our downtown, one of my good friends from work, her ex boyfriend was jumped and beaten to the point that he's now permanently disabled. Others have died. So when I say I am not inclined to shop at Walmart, these are the folks I'm trying to avoid, and the odds of me encountering them at Canadian Tire or Sobeys is pretty much zero.
I don't typically go to malls. I don't walk downtown. I'm not a "people person" and any group of people that aren't my immediate family bigger than roughly 5 or so I find a crowd. So if I have the option of going to Canadian Tire where the demographic is going to be a small group of mostly middle-aged mechanically geared guys picking up some FRAM orange cans and 20w-50 for their 1981 Chevy versus a dense group of everything from Average Betty buying groceries to Methy Mike and Crack Carly both getting their sketch on, I'm going for the former. I don't like being around unpredictable people.
Somewhat amusingly, as I came home and started writing this, there were 5x cop cars just down the street at one of the apartment buildings, which are sprinkled through this old part of town which is predominantly filled with old brick homes. My eldest son came flying over to inform me that there had been an altercation between one of these folks I've described above and another, which resulted in one of them getting punched in the face and an arrest.
