2007-08-13
what a surprise -- more power within!
|You know, it's a funny thing, but I think I am actually getting comfortable in my own skin. Might I be heading toward self-actualization? Hmm, possible but I think I am just becoming more confident. This is an issue I have been working on (sadly) most of my life.
I bring this up for two reasons. First I can't remember who it was, but I recently read someone's account of feeling insecure when she met affluent people. She watched how they behaved in an attempt to appear affluent herself. She said she picked up some tips, but in the end she felt exhausted and didn't really have fun at the event because she felt uptight the entire time. I empathized with her because it was clear that she wasn't happy and that she didn't really value her own personality. I have felt that way in the past.
Yesterday my next door neighbor had her baby baptized. (A side note is screaming to be heard, so here we go.) It irritates me to no end when people refer to a baptism as a "christening." Usually you will hear, "We're going to have the baby christened tomorrow." I immediately think of a yacht and a member of the Royal Family standing there with a bottle of alcohol in their hand, ready to slam the bottle against the bow of the ship. That, my friend, is a christening. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest, I feel so much better now.
I was outside with the girls when they all got home from church and both the husband and the wife invited us over. My girls jumped all over that invite and a half hour later we stopped by their house.
I need to mention that the husband's parents (the husband is my neighbor) are extremely well-to-do. This is germane to the story, as it will illustrate point number two. It has been my experience that most (but not all) wealthy folk seem to look down their noses at the rest of us. In the past, I have been intimidated by that.
Yesterday, as I was watching their family and chatting with them I noticed that the mother-in-law tried to throw me a bone here and there to include me in the conversation, but she only really showed express interest in me when she found out my kids attend Catholic school and that my husband and I attend Mass regularly.
Her husband had such the arrogant body language of a stereotypical rich man, in his beige suit smoking a cigar. He owns an investing firm of some type, which the second son manages with the father. My neighbor (the first son) works at Ford Motor Company doing something (not sure what it is). The patriarch barely acknowledged my presence, even though I was participating in the conversation.
Then the daughter-in-law (my neighbor, who is the wife of the first son) brought up the business my daughters are engaged in (the canine pooper scooping) and asked me to elaborate. Boy, that changed the rich man's attitude right away. He sat up at attention, leaned toward me and was all ears after that.
It was absolutely clear to me that my worth, in the father-in-law's eyes, had suddenly risen dramatically in value because I had done something that was important to him (exhibited an entrepreneurial spirit). It was the same with the mother-in-law. When I expressed something that was important to her (being Catholic) my worth rose in her eyes.
I found the entire exchange to be amusing. I don't care what these people think of me or themselves. I find them pretentious yet interesting, nonetheless. However, I was proud of myself that their opinions of me -- good or bad -- had no effect on me.
It must have been the power of the Converse low tops I was wearing. I told you they make me feel like I have a super hero within. (And I wasn't even wearing the red ones!)
2007-08-13 at 6:59 a.m.
