| May. 20th, 2005 @ 12:52 pm Beyond Class. |
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Current Mood:  horny
Current Music: The Wind.
Dear Friends of the Italian Opera.
I grew up for the first 7 years of my life in East-Berlin. That was, back then, a communist - well, socialist - country. My family is from a modest background. Very modest background. My mum grew up in a village, where here father was the only teacher. My Grandma, whose father was a peasant who had to flee the Russians in 1945 when they came to East Prussia, did not have any formal education. She remained a secretary all her life. My mum left that village at the age of 18 to go to Berlin, where she studied and took on a position in the civil service. She still works there. Almost 20 years now. During that time, in the early 80s, my mum met my dad whilst they were both washing plates in the Palace of the Republic, a grandiose but rather dull building of Eastern German political hybris. The communists build it where there used to be, before 1945, the Berlin Castle, residence of the Kings of Prussia. Anyhow, after reunification it has been found out the building is asbestos ridden. Now, all thats left is a ruin. The new Germany wants to get rid of that past. Anyhow, thats where my parents met, as dishwashers. My dad, back then, studied theatre studies. Since then, he has worked as a dramaturge at several theatres, has divorced my mum, is now a writer without stable income and has married his third wife 8 years ago. She owns a company with 30 employees and is barely able to sustain herself, my dad and the 2 kids of 3 and 1 1/2 years.
My mum raised me after my parents divorced in 1988. We were never rich. We were not poor neither. All my grandparents were, back in the day, fervent supporters of classless society. I guess, although they have accomodated themselves with Capitalism in the past 15 years, they still dream of the past as something better, where class does not matter. I argue with them that the GDR was a totalitarian state - but I let them be, and indeed, do not have much to say, when they say that nowadays, society has become all about difference and status.
I am not quite sure how class consciousness works. I am pretty immune. I never had much. I never had little. We would not have TV until my aunt gave me one at the age of 16. We had books and theatre instead. My mum still does not have a car. I will never have one.
I was brought up in an environement where material attributes did not matter and where not given much importance. I am extremley grateful for that. What matters was what you do with your head and your heart.
Of course I am not entirely immune. I am not exactly working class, but I am no proper middle class neither. I grew up amongst intellectuals, as my father hung out with them. Uncles and aunts are builders, secretaries and so on. I am from a slightly undefined social background. However, I got the brains and skills to move and slowly the courage to interact with people from whatever social background.
I was lucky to be send to a French High School in Berlin. Somewhat middle class. But that, I couldnt care less about. I was busy discovering the culture of Berlin after reunification, going to the movies, theatre - like most of my friends. I was not aware that these in themselves were attributes of a certain social position. I went to the opera not to spend £400 on a ticket ( I got mine for free, as I knew the students checking the tickets...), I went for the intellectual bit. Our parties were simple. Booze, weed, haning out in some run down appartment in my East Berlin. I guess you could call it alternative.
I was the only child of my mum. Just the two of us. Therefore I was lucky enough to be able to leave Germany when I was 18. My mum also never had another child because she knew it would financially not work out. She is still supporting me now once in a while.
I moved to Paris for a year, where I went to a public (read free) elite school, on the merit of my good grades in High School. After that I came to London, to the London School of Economics, top of the world for social sciences (so they say). Again on the merit of my good grades. You can imagine the kind of people going to that school. Lots of rich kids. I could see it everywhere, most of them are far richer then i ever was. But it did not really affect me.
I now live in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods of Great Britain. It qualifies as Ghetto (poor areas in europe are however not readily comparable to poor areas in the states). I live of "Murder Mile", as the Hackney Gazette has called it. In London, its important where you live. If you say "Hackney", well, some people dont even bother talking to you. - And I cant be bothered to talk to those people. A waster of my time.
I met amazing people throughout my life. I developed amazing friendships. I do admit most of them are from the same social background. But since I came to London, I was exposed to a far wider variety of social backgrounds. Through with whom I slept, with whom I went to uni, with whom I work and so on.
Class does not matter. You can make it go away. You just have to look beyond it. May be make an effort to meet people from different backgrounds.
I know I am a good person (with faults). I am honest. Reliable (or so). You know what I mean. Whomever I meet in my life, poor or rich, I will take into consideration what their horizons might be. I will always interact with a fellow human being, a person that deserves respect and understanding. People that have only eyes for social status - I might talk to them, might even have a drink with them, but I would not bother too much about them. They miss the point of life.
Material possesions are nothing. To be a fully fledged human being is everything.
To get there takes time. Money wont make that faster. |
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