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Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd been born to parents who believed in the value of education.
Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd been born to parents who knew what to do with a gifted child.
Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd been born into the middle class, not the working class.
If I hadn't had the main notion of "I need to study something that will help me get a job that pays well," maybe I'd have gone into German 20 years ago.
But I also wouldn't have had the experiences that led me to have a passion for identity, belonging, liminality, and all that.
Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd gotten good advice as a kid, if I hadn't learned at an early age that mom wasn't useful for advice, if I hadn't labored under the idea that I had to figure everything out for myself because I didn't know there were people who *could* help you out.
Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd been raised by someone who understood geeky kids, who understood that her kid's social needs are different than her own, who didn't think I was lying when I told her that smoking in the car made me cough really badly.
Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd actually gone into something I had a passion for 20 years ago, rather than doing the working-poor kid's thing and following the money.
Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd been born to parents who knew what to do with a gifted child.
Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd been born into the middle class, not the working class.
If I hadn't had the main notion of "I need to study something that will help me get a job that pays well," maybe I'd have gone into German 20 years ago.
But I also wouldn't have had the experiences that led me to have a passion for identity, belonging, liminality, and all that.
Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd gotten good advice as a kid, if I hadn't learned at an early age that mom wasn't useful for advice, if I hadn't labored under the idea that I had to figure everything out for myself because I didn't know there were people who *could* help you out.
Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd been raised by someone who understood geeky kids, who understood that her kid's social needs are different than her own, who didn't think I was lying when I told her that smoking in the car made me cough really badly.
Sometimes I wonder what I'd be like if I'd actually gone into something I had a passion for 20 years ago, rather than doing the working-poor kid's thing and following the money.
