Not really a bitch, moan, or gripe. But...

[XMEN Ashaman DTM]

I was wondering what people thought about those that have nice clothes, cars, places to live, etc.

I work in Bellevue/Kirkland (where a lot of rich people live, and wannabe rich people live). Basically, it's the whole "east side" as it's called around here that has the rich guys. It's just across Lake Washington, east of Seattle.

Anyways, I see a lot of people in their twenties and thirties with nice cars, nice clothes, and nice homes. They all have cars like BMW's, Audi's, Benzes, and so on. I even saw a hummer. They also have the whole "black leather jacket" look going. All of these things are pretty expensive. And in my view, they are flaunting their money.

Now, I lean along the lines of capitalism and can respect someone working hard to make money. The actual display of wealth is what seems to be bugging me. I guess it could come from the fact that all of my life, I have never had much money. Nor have my parents. (In fact, I can remember times when there was only a loaf of bread to eat for the week.) I never had those "nice" things in highschool, or in college.

Yet I go to work each day on the bus, and look at people driving around. They all have that expensive look about them.

I'm also planning on moving closer to where I work, so that I don't have the damn 4 hour commute every day. I'll be living amongst these people who I view as flaunting their wealth.

I don't think I'm taking personally the fact that others have more money than me. It's just that it's so sad. I joke with my boss (who lives in Kirkland) about the people that live where he lives. The women are all nice looking, but you try and talk to most of them and their eyes glaze over when you say anything more complex than the word "the". The guys all look alike. They all have the black leather jackets, black or beige pants, and usually a white shirt. You talk to most of them and it's like, "I have 3% body fat, make six figures, and own several ferarri's. How about you?" (Okay, maybe a teensy bit of exaggeration there.)

I guess I'm kind of feeling like the odd man out. That's something that's new to me. For the most part (except around the time my grandpa died), I never really cared what other people thought about me, how I looked, how I acted, or what I said.

Also, I was talking to a friend of mine, and he said that if I live in that area I'm going to have to make some changes to interact with those people. I heard a similar thing from another friend of mine who said that she wants to take me clothes shopping to have a more refined look. Whatever that means...
But, I feel that if I do that, I'll be giving up a little part of myself. I've always had a sort of contempt for people that seemed like snobs, and I'd hate to think that way about myself.

I'm thinking that if I hear the words "those people" in reference to someone that lives on the street, or even in reference to someone that I could identify with economically, that I'll either tell them to F' off, or walk away. I can't say that I've run into that attitude recently, but I just got a feeling.


Well, what do you guys (and gals) think?