Just the other day, I was thinking about how I have lived two years as an adult. It doesn’t feel much like it because my mum is still providing for me, but it gets real when I have to display my national identity card to get something done or pay for something myself with my own money.
Over time, the concept of watching people’s vlogs on YouTube caught up with me. Although I primarily consume commentaries and a few documentaries, I sometimes tune in to watch people live their lives, get their makeup done and go to nice restaurants. It is usually not my cup of tea, but if the video quality is top-notch and the vlogger seems not to be bragging, it is ok with me to watch.
My relationship with YouTube started after I left high school, the same year that COVID-19 made its debut (2019, people). I do remember feeling a little triggered by watching some vlogs that alluded to the fact that these vloggers came from a privileged background, characterised by the spur-of-the-moment decision to hop on a plane and go to Zanzibar for a holiday, spontaneous shopping sprees at Mr P and those random hotel bookings for staycations. The latter especially used to tick me off- I sometimes wanted a hotel staycation to get away from everything during the lockdown!
Before anyone says it, I’ll say it myself. I was there for it. That means that it was my choice to watch their content, therefore making me have no right to “call them out” for simply being privileged. If that’s even a good thing.
Since hindsight is 20/20, I can now say that I had been triggered by personal factors to feel a little resentful towards such people in the past. At that particular time, we were feeling the pinch of COVID-19. I even stopped consuming their content for my sanity.
In my childhood, “they” were the kids at Sunday School who came to church in their family cars and would go out to a restaurant for lunch after service ended. They had smartphones by the age of 13 (smartphones were generally a new thing so it was cool) and would use iPads to read their Bibles or use their beautiful illustrated Bibles for children and teens. They even spoke English with sophistication! My sister and I weren’t badly off; we just always had lunch at home after service, went home using matatus, used a normal Bible (it’s basically skin and bones now, but we still have it) and didn’t have phones. Well, our first one (you see, we shared!) wasn’t a smartphone, lol. My sibling and I didn’t get pleasantries of that kind but would have all the basic requirements met to lead a simple life.
Not bad…but I see why I didn’t like these so-called “rich kids”. It was tough, especially fellowshipping at a church where 95% of the congregants were privileged. However, I have grown up and I now see that it is okay to be privileged.
Have you heard about the lottery of life?
It is a philosophical argument that since you have no control over where you are born and to whom you are born, you shouldn’t be blamed for the circumstances of your life. Being born with a silver spoon in your mouth shouldn’t be something that signs you up for disapproval or dislike.
Since I do not know about other people, I’ll speak for myself. I normally won’t gravitate towards Kenyan influencers who seem to be living from a point of privilege. Without discrediting their effort and hard work, there is a *major* factor that comes into play with their popularity/success: their privileged backgrounds.
Come on, ordinary Joes on a comrade budget simply cannot do ASOS or PLT hauls for you and go to Nairobi Street Kitchen every weekend (unless they’re faking it, of course). Influencership needs money before it can pay back!
I do not glorify hustle culture and struggle, but the life of the ordinary Joe in Kenya is largely characterised by that. I have seen this first-hand because, at the time of writing this, my sister is graduating soon (yes!) and even so, she hadn’t had much luck in finding internship opportunities while at school. It was a game of “who knows who” and it sucks. Privileged people hardly have to struggle to find placements in some institutions or organizations. The vast network that their parents have come to the rescue, and just like that, their life is made much easier.
Again, it isn’t their fault. It is, however, society’s fault.
Because I am really busting my ass in school and also believe that this is what my education should be all about, I have to apply my knowledge here. There was Karl Marx, a thinker and philosopher amongst many other things, who was against capitalism in society and was advocating for socialism. His Conflict Theory classifies society into two distinct groups. Here, the privileged are the bourgeoisie and the proliferate, where the vast majority falls, is the working class. It is the replica of today’s capitalistic society, the reason why they’re where they are at and you are where you are.
From my perspective, I think proliferates work hard to someday join the bourgeoisie and provide a better life for their children and themselves. It is all about making it to the next day for them, dare I call it survival. Bills, bills, bills.
I wouldn’t say that my main goal is to be a rich lady, but it is more of getting to a point where I don’t need to struggle to meet my needs and those of my family. There is nothing wrong with me swimming in my hard-earned cash. I’m not trying to pull off a Mother Theresa or sumn' (lol) but I wouldn’t find happiness in that when there’s someone else living in absolute poverty somewhere in the world. (That is the reason I took a humanitarian career path, although I still struggle with that concept sometimes.)
A recent video by The Economist about ‘Why it’s Harder To Earn More Than Your Parents’ left me dumbfounded, but not so much. It just comes to show that life is, indeed, a lottery. It is unfortunate that apart from the weight of public debt, I also have student debt waiting for me once I’m done with school. An education that probably won’t benefit me in terms of raising my living standards (a reason why my degree is for my enlightenment first).
Let’s be frank, nothing is guaranteed in this life.
This wasn’t meant to be a satirical post because I do mean it. You may or may not be a trust fund baby, have or may not have a monthly allowance from your caregiver(s) or an existent network, but no one should hold you culpable for it. If we all had it our way, we would all have these privileges for ourselves.
We all have some privileges in our lives if you think about it. Even if I am taking a loan to attain higher education, that is a privilege- access to information and education shouldn’t be a privilege, but it is a privilege. This stems from the fact that no one owes you shit. Heck, even God doesn’t owe you anything! As long as you’re alive and have what you have, that is the privilege. They just vary in degrees with persons from a different social class than yours.
Chin up, baby. You still have a shot at life. Just don’t tear down those who just happen to have it easier than you. You can build the life you dream of, no matter the painstaking cost that may come with it (depending on your social class). Easily said than done but this is life, after all.
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Sources
God Doesn't “Owe” You Anything! (2015, February 17). shawnethomas. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://shawnethomas.com/2015/02/17/god-doesnt-owe-you-anything/
Kowalski, K. (n.d.). The Lottery of Birth — All the Things You Don't Control in Life. Sloww. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://www.sloww.co/lottery-of-birth/
Lottery of birth. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lottery_of_birth#cite_note-1
The Lottery of Life. (n.d.). The School of Life. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/the-lottery-of-life/
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