Class

Really interesting topic and questions.

My parents were born into working class backgrounds. They were part of the baby boomer generation, which in places like England may have offered a diverse range of ways to be come upwardly mobile if one wanted to make a better life for their own kids etc. However, in this strange wee place many doors - most of the civil service for instance, and many businesses and trades- were largely shut to Catholics, and so a much narrower range of ‘become middle class’ avenues existed. One of those was teaching. My parents became teachers, so did my aunts and uncles. I never really thought about it much growing up, why they’d all be in this exact same profession. Some of them aligned well with it vocationally (my dad, my mum - she was in special education), but at least one aunt and one uncle clearly were counting the days. Either way it was stressful as all hell. 

Anyway, In broad social-economic  terms I was therefore born into a not long established middle class situation, with my parents having secured a mortgage in a modest but nice house in a decent street, pulling in a decent wage or two (for a time my mother didn’t work, but I’m sure her three kids were exhausting enough) etc. Though my parents never let themselves get into that ‘I’m alright Jack’ mentality that can happen so easily when comparatively comfortable. I remember my dad would call people like Scottish singer Lulu a disgrace for being a Tory - ‘they forget when they hadn’t an *** in their trousers’ he’d say. 

Anyway, I now live in a small bungalow that I can only afford with Co-ownership financing, I work in a modest job that I love and wouldn’t change for the world (couldn’t in fact - so very, very few other things would fit me and not burn me out), and I will never be rich - nor want to be. But I’m not supporting a child or a partner. If I were, maybe ‘working class’ would be a fair descriptor. As it is, I’m probably kind of lower middle class in a fuzzy hard to pin down way.  I don’t honestly care how I’d be framed. I pay my bills, do my best, and try to be kind or at least do as little harm as possible. That’s all that matters. 

To quote the Doctor (back when he was a young man in an  old man’s body, the early black and white days) ‘I am a citizen of the universe, and a gentleman to boot’. Or so I’ve been told by many, one or two have maybe seen something more sinister), and while it’s been projection (holding the shadow of their past trauma in a way that deepens my own) it’s hard not to feel deeply hurt by it. And once or twice fully destroyed. But true class is remembering to honour (even when it’s extremely hard to recover) who you really are when you know you only want to be kind, so I’ll just keep authentically ‘doing’ me. And people can judge me as they will. 

I love this answer. Your Dad sounds like a great guy. Although i recall you talking about his troubles and that they were similar to my own Dads.

I love this answer. Your Dad sounds like a great guy. Although i recall you talking about his troubles and that they were similar to my own Dads.