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People Describe The Moment They Realized They Were Privileged
Even though they could spend thousands of dollars without a second thought, while others might have to sacrifice basic needs in order to put down that much money.
However, "privilege" doesn't only apply to the super wealthy.
Indeed, many young people might go through their entire childhood blissfully unaware of how lucky they are in comparison to the wider population.
Redditor stoicjewel was curious to hear about how people realized that they grew up in a privileged upbringing, leading them to ask:
"People who grew up with wealth, what was your 'I'm privileged' wake up call?"
Student Loans? Never Heard Of Them...
"Realizing how having my college tuition covered by parents put me so much farther ahead than everyone else in the long term."- fattychalupa
Some People Don't Even Have One!
"When I was a kid my best friend came to our house for the first time he kept saying 'wow'."
"He was really impressed that we had 2 TV's, it embarrassed me enough that I didn't tell him we had 4."- Underwater_Karma
They Honestly Could Have Stopped After "Parent's Cabin"...
"I took my friend to my parent’s cabin and he said 'wow this is nicer than my house'."- flpacsnr
house GIF by LeeshGiphy
There Are Levels To Everything...
"My parents are wealthy, but I grew up in a place where many of my peers' parents were super duper crazy wealthy, so I had a really skewed understanding of wealth."
"It was really eye-opening for me when I went to college."
"I didn’t have to take out student loans, my parents were able to just pay for it, but I had friends who even with financial aid had to work their butts off year round to cover the cost of school."
"I realized pretty quickly just how privileged I was and that I did in fact grow up with wealth."- LilAsshole666
There's Privilege, And Then There's Elitism...
"When I was confused about people on Maury complaining their spouse was at 'the club', and I couldn't figure out what type of country club would let people like that through the front security gate."- Popular_Course3885
No Need For A Round Trip Ticket...
"We wanted to try the new rail transit system."
"Our friend’s driver dropped us off at one station, so we could get tickets and ride the train."
"When we got to the next station, we got off and proceeded to find our friend’s driver, who was waiting there to pick us up and take us home."- fluffymcflufffluff
Drive GIF by GloRillaGiphy
If You Have To Ask, You Can't Afford It...
"Every summer, I went to 8 weeks of overnight camp, or some other cool summer program (30 day bus tour across western U.S., 3 weeks in Australia)."
"I had no idea what those cost at the time!"- blipsman
"A House Is Not A Home..."
"I've had many, but a particularly memorable one was when a guy at work I'd been flirting with (older than me - I was 19 and he was around 25, so in my naive mind it was plausible that he was set up despite the fact that we both worked sh*tty retail jobs) told me he'd signed a lease on a new apartment."
"'How many bedrooms?' I asked conversationally."
"He laughed and said, 'Five - it's a penthouse suite'."
"Wow, I thought, he's doing pretty well for himself!"
"A couple weeks later he brought me back to his new apartment - which was in fact a 300sq ft studio."
"At this point it occurred to me that he'd thought I was making a joke when I asked how many bedrooms his new apartment had."- Haldoldreams
Funemployment!
"At this point I already knew I was very well-off, but after I had gotten laid off for the first time a few years ago I took a break for about a month before diving into a job search."
"I was at the self-checkout at the grocery store next to a woman paying with food stamps."
"I had recently gotten $100,000 from my grandmother's inheritance, and it hit me 'I'm unemployed, not even trying to find a job, and I just got a boatload of money because somebody else died'."
"'And she's the one people think is the freeloader'."- RamblinWreckGT
Louis Vuitton Shopping GIF by Pudgy PenguinsGiphy
Our Legal System Is Great... If You Can Afford It...
"I have an uncle who has money."
"I was a 'wild madman' of a kid, had a lot of psychological stuff going on and had lots of legal issues from the time I was really young, from 11 onwards."
"I spent about 10 years going in and out of juvies and jails and had a bunch of court cases."
"Everytime I was in court, I had a private lawyer."
"And these lawyers would fight for me."
"You could not violate my rights because my lawyer would make a scene about it."
"You could not attempt to intimidate me into a plea deal, regardless of whether I even did something or if it was one of the cases where I was falsely accused, because my lawyers would fight right back and challenge the prosecutor to take it to trial (and then the prosecutor would generally give up because they knew that they couldn't actually prove that particular allegation)."
"The reason that I didn't end up in prison, despite my various attempts to, is because of the lawyers."
"My uncle also paid a lot of money to get me into treatment programs/rehab, put me into a really good school, got me counselors, got me everything I needed, and he saved my life, and I turned out to be just a normal, chill person by my early 20s."
"I met so many people in the system who will never have any of that, people who need help and who will never receive it."
"The system does nothing in terms of root causes of criminality, it does nothing to prevent recidivism."
"It does nothing."
"Court is nothing but a chess game on a conveyor belt and people get screwed over everyday."
"I'd also like to point out that I'm not disparaging public defenders."
"There are many passionate public defenders who do excellent work but their case loads are too damn big."
"They cannot allocate endless time to a person's case because they don't have the time."
"Public defense needs way more funding than it gets."- throwawaysmetoo
Perspective Is Everything
"I was gonna say I realized how privileged I was when I spent a summer with my great grandmother in a small village in rural Hungary - no indoor running water, the only phone was at the church, and everyone came out to touch the rental car we drove there in."
"This was in the late 1980s."
"But after reading some of the comments on here, I feel poor again, lol."- GoodGrrl98
Never Underestimate The Importance Of Role Models...
"Becoming an adult and realizing that I have extremely good role models as parents because when they have disagreements they talk them out and I have never ever heard them argue or bad mouth each other."
"I also realized that as a kid my parents got me mental health help that I needed even though it was expensive and continued that care for as long as I have needed it."
"A third one that doesn’t seem like much but has had a huge impact was being taught financial literacy from a young age- to budget my money and only buy the things I really really want."- Successful-Emu-1412
Brady Bunch Hug GIF by TV Land ClassicGiphy
Some People Feel Lucky Leaving Their Street...
"My parents loved to travel."
"By the time I was 16, I had been to every continent aside from Antartica."
"I didn’t realize that this was privileged behavior until I went to uni, and most of the guys I met had never left the country."
"In fact, I grew up thinking I was less privileged because everyone at my school was just obscenely rich."
"Like all their stuff was high-end designer stuff while I was in converse."- abal1003
An INDOOR Pool!?!?!
"Not me but my friend."
"Went to his house and he had a pool inside his house next to the living room separated by a large glass wall and of course it was warm."
"I was like 'yeah, dude you’re like really f*cking rich'.”- Fobulousguy
Same Family, Different Worlds
"My oldest brother was raised by grandparents in another country."
"I remember when he moved to the states after turning 18, he was in awe of seeing a garage door automatically open."
"That’s when I realized we grew up way different than him."
"Sad really."
"But man he sure did rise and become the most successful of all us siblings."- FancyFeetFetishLady
homer simpson sharing GIFGiphy
No matter one's financial status, almost everyone takes for granted how lucky they are in the grand scheme of things.
However, some people take far more for granted than others.
