Some weeks ago my husband told me that we lived on the bottom rung of society. I was pretty bewildered by the comment. It’s not something that had ever occurred to me, and it probably never would have. I asked him to explain and he did.
I didn’t have much to say about the comment other than it was interesting. It made sense to him but made much less sense to me so I had very few remarks to make and our conversation moved along.
I haven’t thought about it since (consciously) but tonight we were talking and I brought it up.
I really don’t feel like I am at the bottom rung of society though you may feel I am. I think this is because I am from the desert and judging by the standard we used out there, I am inordinately successful.
I don’t bore people, I do the right thing, I’m an independent thinker and I’ve started a business. I show up for my friends, I do a good job, I routinely donate my time, my money and my skills. I don’t lie, I don’t cheat, you can trust me with your life…you get the idea.
I get his idea too and it’s interesting to me how people view others. I really don’t think he is wrong and I am right. I know he is right, I just don’t see it that way and we see it the way we see it because of our roots (our Moons).
pictured – that’s Annalisa and I.
I guess bottom rung means different things to different people.
I feel like bottom rung of society are the homeless. I view bottom rung in terms of possessions not personal attributes.
This conversation sounds like the “glass is half empty/half full” dilemma ? Your in the top of my world ElsaElsa.
Considering I don’t have the total picture to look at I can not make a conclusion to the statement. Sounds to me like venting on your husbands part with this economy I can understand his feelings.
Plus if your husband is still in the military then I can really understand his position. The country depends on our armed forces to keep us safe and free. Then for the most part treats them like second class citizens. I am a veteran of the fist Gulf war my husband is a veteran of the cold war. My X is a Vietnam vet and it took me 17 years of our marriage to get him his veterans compensation benefits.
I think anyone who has a blog is definitely not on the bottom rung of society.
Arriving by that standard, more than 50% of world’s population (mostly in India,China,Africa) is at the bottom rung
I think anyone who has someone who comes to them for comfort, advice or a shoulder is far from bottom rung because they have respect and love
could it possibly mean bottom rung as in the foundation of society ??
I Like Your Bottom or High Rung Of Society !!!
Great Pic You Both Look Lovely !!!
I would really be interested to know what the Soldier’s criteria is for bottom rung society. For me, there are different types of ladders. For example, if you meant financially speaking I am on the bottom rung. If you mean all of those things that Elsa mentions (Do the right thing, etc.) I believe I am quite high on the ladder. I suppose it’s all perspective.
When I had my own business, I started with two shops. Being rich was not a goal I had in mind – after a year of two businesses I double checked my values and closed one of them. I didn’t make alot of money but I was happy with what I did get, I gave great service and was doing my passion. This enabled me to have my employees open the shop while I got my young kids to school – they also closed up while I got the kids from school. January – March was a deadly slow time of the year so I took those months off to catch up on paperwork etc., let the employees get the income, and be an at-home mom to the kids. Donald Trump would have looked at my bank account and labeled me ‘the bottom of the rung’, but I felt on top of the world!
I would second the homeless people remark, as well as point out career criminals and people who can’t be arsed to take care of themselves.
I think it is possible to drop-out of society.
It probably feels that way at times, because the country has been in a long depression and every one is feeling the hit. However I do believe you are running the most essential astrological site there is and providing a forum for people that otherwise would not exist. The idea of a bottom rung is illusory anyhow, because even homeless, addicted people turn their lives around, and wealthy people are not immune to failure, unhappiness, etc.
The only way I would think of you or anyone else as “bottom rung” is because you have lived a life and made choices that keep you grounded (i.e., on the “bottom” floor). At least this is my impression of you.
I think that would be something to be proud of, actually– not losing touch with reality.
And Puneet, that is a damn good point.
I like you way of looking at it. on that scale I’m doing pretty good.
On the economic scale, I’m on the bottom rung pulling myself up.
“However I do believe you are running the most essential astrological site there is and providing a forum for people that otherwise would not exist”
Thank you, Virginia.
Here are two descriptions of my life. Both are TRUE.
1. I am a high school drop out. A single mother. On Foodstamps. I work below federal poverty level in a manual/piecework field. Live in one of the poorest socio-economic areas west of Mississippi.(no jobs) Spent 10 years with only an outhouse, a solar shower and a laundry tub for a sink. Could never qualify for a home loan.
I am ALSO
2. In a loving relationship for 37 years that produced two Ivy League college educated daughters. Self-employed in a job that allows me much freedom and pays the bills with time left over for leisure. We live in a gorgeous custom home I built myself that is fully paid for.
SO! It is fascinating how the “FACTS” of one person’s life can be “spun” towards pity OR towards respect. THE SAME LIFE!!!!
The rungs in our society have changed. It used to be that if you were working, had a job and enough money to pay for your life and put a little away, you were a success. You were a proud member of the masses of the workforce, making cars, driving trucks, running farms and so forth.
Now it’s not like that. Anybody who has a job is a wage slave — anyone who is not exploiting the talent of others or many others — or sharecropping on the principal and interest of others who do have jobs and ower money — is on the bottom rung. Anyone who is of the “leisure class” and basically sits around and lets other people do all the work they have to do, or sits around and lets the financial industry take thier money and turn it into more money by either exploiting workers or cheating governments is getting closer and closer to the “top rung”.
In my opinion anyone who is engaged in commerce on their own terms is a step above anyone who has a job. And anyone who has a job where they don’t have to sit in a cubicle box all day and push paper from one side of their desk to the other has learned a skill and will never be a slave.
It used to be that if you had a college degree you automatically jumped a rung. Now, to me, if someone has a trade and they get to keep the money they earn instead of taking a tiny slice in wages from an employer, they’re several steps above that.
As far as the people who live in Richistan, well, we’ll never get to meet them. They’re creating their own society now that they’ve sucked the juice out of the one they came from.
It drives me crazy how society no longer respect hardworking people. Both sets of my grandparents lived near factories. They were blue collared. One grandfather did work his way into management. Their former neighborhoods have become ghettos or marginal. When did we begin disrepecting people who work hard and live modestly? My brother was in union management. He came up with the proposal to hire homeless people to picket so the union workers could work at their higher wage. A comedy show made fun of this event, but the homeless men were happy to work. My brother one day brought their lunch to them. He sat down and ate with them. They were stunned. They were used to people treating them as non-humans. Yet we think bankers who run their companies into the ground and ask for a govt handout are success stories. I don’t get it.