Taking Privileges for Granted

I live in a country of wealth and privilege. I may not be rich myself, but I know how blessed I am when I think about the things and opportunities that I have had to improve my life.

My parents immigrated to this country back in the 1970s, and I grew up with “when I was your age” stories from my mother, who grew up on a rice farm. When she tells me stories of poverty, not just hers but that of neighbors as well, I always think about how she left that country in order to pursue a better life here in the United States. I am appreciative of the sacrifices that both my parents have made in order to give their family the life that they have always dreamed about. My life in the United States is privileged in comparison to my parents’ life in the Philippines. I don’t take this for granted. Even though I have never experienced poverty (and I hope I never will), it is still somehow part of me because it’s so close to my mother’s life. I respect her greatly because of her determination to rise above it. She taught me that money doesn’t grow on trees, and that the things I buy—whether for pleasure or out of necessity—should always be taken care of because you may not always afford to buy newer things. From her experiences, I learn to not take things for granted.

As I think about the students I teach, especially the students of immigrant parents, many of them have the same ideas about education as I do. It’s a privilege to go to school, and therefore they take it seriously. Students who don’t care about their education betray their parents’ in every way possible by rejecting the dreams and resources that their parents have tried to so hard to attain or provide. They don’t have to be children of immigrant children either. They take it for granted that living in a country of wealth means living a life of hedonism. Well, hedonism may be too strong of a word, but you get the idea.