Post #3 Social Class

The topic this week in my Family Relations class has been about social class and cultural diversity.

 I have felt badly, when during a history lesson I have learned that in some foreign countries there were still social classes today. I understood that there were the “haves” and “have-not’s”. I understood that some were well to do and some lived in squalor. I realize I am over simplifying. Somehow as a youngster it was just too far away for me to grasp this fact. I grew up in a fairly comfortable home. We had a car, a working furnace and lights, enough food, warm clothes, etc. In my bliss I had not paid any attention to the social classes that exist in my own country. I guess it never occurred to me that there were classes. (I think I have my father to thank for that. He looked at everyone and treated everyone as equal and with respect.) I understood that some were poor and some were wealthy with many families in between.

The focus for me right now is those families that are struggling to make ends meet. Wondering, how they will get through the next month, week, or the next day. This week I saw a documentary about a woman that amazed me with her strength and yet broke my heart with her hardships. She was a hardworking single mother of four children. She was doing her best to set a good example for her children. She worked fulltime and walked 10.5 miles to work every day instead of going on government welfare. She was a caring and concerned mother. She had a desire and hope for a better life in the future.

Why did she end up living the life that she did? Her social class was at the bottom of the rung. Is someone doomed to live life like that? What can I do as one person to help someone else make a better life for themselves?

Please understand dear reader that I am not judging this mother. I am however making some observations.

In the documentary there was no mention of the father of the children. How much harder life is for a mother to raise children on her own but also how much harder it is for children not to have a father in the home to help raise them, teach them, love them, support them, and set a good example for them. I believe that a father should be the bread winner, the support and protector of the home and family. I understand there can be extenuating circumstances, I am thinking of a traditional family and home. When the mother is able to be in the home and nurture and teach the children, the children have a better start in life. Again, I understand that there can be extenuating circumstances.

This mother also grew up in poverty. She was one of twenty-two children. Obviously most of us don’t have that many siblings. Her father was a very hard worker and worked many hours, but with so many depending on him, it was never enough. This mother, as a girl had to quit school and go to work to help support her family. Because she quit school to go to work, she was left at a disadvantage. She didn’t have the educational background that most of us have. She didn’t have the skills to find a decent paying job.

I learned a lot from the documentary and the discussion following that we had in class. I don’t have the answers to fix everything, but I have one answer that for me is most important. Don’t judge people. It may look like she is at the bottom of the social class ladder, but she had something that cannot be found by being in any social class. This mother had determination and hope for her future. There were many setbacks in her life, but she was choosing to be happy.

I am working daily to be hopeful for my own future and the future of my family. I am very blessed to have the opportunity to attend BYU-Idaho, I am determined to continue and complete my education so that I can help others dig deep within themselves to find their own determination and hope.