Class Consciousness
I had a shocking wake-up call when I was in High School. It alerted me to the fact that I was living a life of privilege and higher education. Until that moment, I had assumed that everybody in our society knew the same basic things I did!
The triggering device was a simple thank-you note.
Back then, computers hadn’t been invented. The most official mail you could receive came off of a typewriter. But I was a good English student, and I had learned the different formats for a Business letter and a Personal letter. I wrote a brief, cheerful Personal Thank-you letter to some acquaintances of my parents who had entertained us one afternoon at their house. (My mother always made sure that my sister and I sent a thank-you note. For Everything.)
I just happened to type this one, since I had just learned how to do that in school.
It was formulated as a Personal letter! Friendly. Warm. Non-threatening. Sincere.
The family whose house we had been to were fine, generous people. But whereas my family was Upper Middle Class, they were definitely Lower.
You can’t imagine how bad I felt when my parents told me, a week later, that my letter had upset these dear people because they thought I was bringing some sort of legal action against them!
