The Raging Bull

There is a raging bull inside of me and it's not because i had an awful childhood, wasn't traumatically bullied, but it's because i grew up poor. A second class citizen of the rich, not because of my skin colour, though that might too have something to do with it, but because of my parent's financial 'non-status'. I have white friends equally as poor, equally as discriminated against and equally as angry. It's not because of our skin colour's that we rage inside, but it's because we were treated unfairly, not by our teachers, not by our parents, not even by our peers but by SOCIETY AT LARGE.

I mean, this world is just not set up for you if you're poor. You can be black, yellow, pink, green, blue, purple or WHITE for all i care and you still won't make it to 'the top' no matter what you try to do. See the world as we know it, society in its current shape & form its rigged, its set up to make you fail ( if you're poor) and help you succeed ( if you're rich). Think of that nice inheritance you will get when your parents die. I have some friends who are 22 and already own their first mortgage free homes, never mind a 4 wheel drive, summer in the Bahamas whenever they want and loan free graduations in multi-disciplinary, multi-figure courses, businesses and degrees for as long as there little hearts might please. Can you see the raging bull inside of me!?

I had one friend, FRIEND, yes my ACTUAL FRIEND say to me that we should keep private schools separate and 'private' so that they don't lose their 'elite quality' and allow the 'riff-raff' in. Who are these 'riff-raff'? Does she mean me or does she mean by undereducated, poverty stricken parents from the third world? Or does she mean the illiterate whites who live down the road? I'm really not sure who she meant and didn't dare ask, cause who wants to get into another political argument with a very well meaning, well educated, middle class girl, ill experienced in the ways of the world about inequality!?

It's no fun talking to people like these about real-life topics and issues cause you'll forever be talking to the well-protected (funded and educated) box they were born into, that forever makes them better than 'You' or any other who might have an opinion or God-forbid, experience of how things actually are. It's like talking to a stale cracker with no give- you can't break it, you can't chew it, you can't eat it and digest it. Your never going to become with this stale cracker thats done it's job (-and wants to die a stale cracker death forgotten at the bottom of the tin).

Oh My God, and then there's those rich, wealthy, White or Brown People who genuinely believe that they are centre of not only their world, but your world too. I just had one 'bust' her way into this 'raging bull article', interrupting me with stories of what was happening and how she was feeling. I mean does she not see that i'm working or does it not matter? She did in all fairness ask, defensively "is now not a good time" when i sat uninterestedly opposite her with my arms folded across my chest. I'm living in her house so i immediately uncrossed my arms and re-posed, adopted the sweet little girl counter, that's interested and only interested in seeing the wealthy woman succeed in her petty problems of excess water flow. I mean don't you know people are dying, starving and don't have enough water to even fill half a cup. Go water your garden and be thankful your 1 million euro house is still intact.

Raging Bull is not done yet! Did you know wealthier people, or at least people who grew up with a substantial amount of wealth inevitably, automatically feel entitled to more. Take this for example. My poorest friend, she always shares everything with me; her clothes, her bananas, her room, her bed, her rent, her food- just not her boys but that has nothing to do with wealth. My second wealthiest friend ( who still lives off his parents good will) won't share even half a 320l avocado ( yes that is how many litres it takes to grow one, just one avocado) with me. I mean he is NOT thinking of the water cost, he runs, Rich White Ladies shower for 30 minutes at a time, he's thinking about his wealth. Avocado means 'growth', banana means 'growth' and if 'i can rip my friends off 30 euro every so often that means 30 euro extra brownie points with my parents for not stealing, taking, using, consuming'- i'm not sure of the right adjective here- their 30e wealth. He's an only child and set to inherit, not 1 but 3 houses when his 'rents' decide- i mean can we share a lil of the wealth around here? At least one coffee wouldn't hurt.

Did i mention who buys the drinks when we go out? I do. Not that i'm complaining or anything, it's nice to share your wealth around, right? At least thats what i tell myself when i'm on the third round of drinks and not once has there been an offer or a reach into their pockets. You see there just used to someone else picking up their slack these rich folk. There used to the poor person serving them like a King or Queen. This same friend said 'i'm sure there are people who love folding clothes and cleaning the kitchen, so just let me do what i like to do and they can do what they like to do'. No we don't like picking up your clothes or unblocking your drain, or cleaning your toilet bowl, we do it cause we need to pay our way through college, or our kids college fees, cause our parents weren't generous enough to leave us a hedge- fund. Or pay for college for us.

I worked 3 jobs in college, at the same time to just survive, i loved it cause it kept me on top of my game ( most of the time) when it came to studying, cause i knew these were the only hours i had and that i'd be burning off calories all night long at the nigh-shift, running up and down the stairs of Dublin's elite restaurant establishment. That's before i got into bar work, where the tips paid well and the after affect, next day was horrendous.

Did i mention i was skinny then? Oh so skinny, not from starvation (that came later) but from running, literally just running all day long! The thing, a poor student survival tip really, is to get yourself a gig in a food establishment, no not the supermarket, but a restaurant or at least a respectable cafe- your almost always guaranteed a decent if not excellent meal and leftovers galore, to take home and feed the poor- whether they be living on the streets or your fellow 'Povo' friends. Yes that is what poor people are called by other poor people, 'POVOS'. Remember that word, it could be you too, one day if the grand take down goes to plan.

What is the grand take-over you may ask? Nothing to be scared of. It's when the world goes to shit, society as you know it till now, fails, people begin to starve, our supply chains; incl. everything from Nike Airs, to iPhones, to the food we eat can't be shipped thousands of miles & break down. And we the 'Povos' rejoice at shit finally hitting the fan, for those who continue to treat us like second class citizens, for no, not our RACE (why is that even a topic), not our colour ( again WHY) but our financial status. Did you ever notice that the poorer coloured people; this means everyone of colour, pink, blue, yellow, purple, as mentioned above- always band together no matter what the colour. They stop seeing it when they just need to feed themselves and the kids, or the neighbours kids.

There compensating 'Black People' and 'People of Colour' now, did they ever just think about re-educating themselves and their kids through hard physical labour (i'm talking communist china here) or simply just distributing some of their wealth incl. avocados, water used for avocados, coffee money and veg.

"Don't bite off more than you can chew" would be my advice to Wealthy White Folk.

But then again they always do!

Which brings me on to the next topic, "Why are White Folk Biting Off More Than They Can Chew?"