Classy Society

Earlier today I was directed to a website adevertising a product. After glancing at it, I replied to the person who'd sent it to me that it wasn't for me. You see, the beginning of the copy recalled the days of using one's brand new, collegiate Visa(tm) card to purchase a Eurail pass, and I never did that.

So, I was aware the ad wasn't directed to me, no more than one for Summer's Eve is.

Then we had a brief discussion about my paranoia. I felt I wasn't being paranoid, but hadn't given the matter any thought. Now that some time has passed, I have, and have either come with a damn good response or else gone further into denial.

I respond the way I do to ads like that, I contend, not because I'm paranoid but because of the caste system. My reaction to that, whenever I'm confronted with it, isn't so much paranoia as it is bitterness. Now, I may very well be paranoid in seeing the stratification of society everywhere, but I prefer to think of it as being more aware and sensitive to it than many folks.

I'm neither the first, nor the only, to be aware of this, but unlike some I'm not about to incite a war to eliminate it. It's not my fault that society's fragmented itself, has become stratified like gas in a centrifuge, and all I can do about it is not to be exclusive, myself.

I think we humans do this for comfort, align with those similar to us, whether that's based on age or interest or what have you. Sure, those who share views or any of the sets of answers will congregate, and those who host conventions make lots of money drawing them together to watch Power Point presentations, but I maintain that those at any level of society quite often choose to throw a fence around themselves, including themselves and excluding others.

It's to my credit that I see this, since it saves me from mistakenly attempting to align myself with those to whom I don't belong. Yes, I'm free to join into any group, to better or worsen myself to join the fraternity of those who import spiritual advisors or those who live on the streets. My placement in the caste system isn't static, but it's there.

I suppose those of us looking up will always desire a classless society, but we don't have much to lose should it actually ever happen.