How do you feel about people in other countries being resentful of you having all these opportunities that you have in the US, meanwhile they have to dig through trash piles to find empty bottles. |
What should they say? "Of course you should be resentful. Everyone should be rich! No one should have to save for a downpayment for a nice house in a good school district in a close in neighborhood! Houses should be free! Everyone can go to an elite college!" |
Hey some perspective. You have a bed, clean water, and plumbing. You're already a winner. |
That is such a gross overstatement of other countries. Most "other countries" are not digging through piles of trash trying to find empty bottles. What you are referring to is the less than 10% now that is below poverty. That is a small percentage of the planet so let's not paint the rest of the world with that brush. Though yes, the US population overall is greatly privileged. |
Tell that to your parents. Particularly about college savings thing. |
You think that most people in DC have trust funds? As for being pleasent o be around . . yikes. Have you checked out a mirror lately? - No trust fund here, just a hard worker. |
I have moments like this. And I know it’s a flag that I need to get out of my bubble. So I suggest that. I’m in that bubble as well and I am jealous of a lot of my friends who’ve had that financial help. But I know I’m fortunate. And whenever I forget that (and I dk sometimes), it means I need to do some volunteer work or make more of an effort to widen my social circle. |
DC is a tough area. I don't think I fully appreciated how the money and the competitiveness saturates you and your lifestyle until you left. We live in a rural area now and WOW do I feel like we have it good, whereas before I always felt like the poorest person in the room. |
No one said this is representative of people in other countries. But do you deny that there are people in other countries like this? Most people living in the US are not resentful of the rich like the OP. I was illustrating the fact that resentment like those felt by the OP exists only due to context, and that it's irrational to ascribe negative feelings towards people simply because of their greater access to resources and privilege (rich). |
Same. |
Stop saving for college. Start getting your kids used to the idea that they won't go to a typical 4 year university. They may need to find other ways to fund college. It's ok, really. |
That is completely untrue. |
Tell that to your parents. Why haven't they done better by you? There are plenty of poor people who lived frugally and made right job choices to be able to pay for their kids college. |
+1. Kids without academic talent don't need to go to college and probably won't be happy there. |
DH and I are children of poor immigrants. Not only did they not help us financially, we support both because they had very little savings for retirement.
Not getting a down payment and college tuition paid for is not the end of the world. |