By JoEllen Collins
I often smile (even from under a mask) when I see one of my friends at the market or post office and then utter the words recorded in the above title. Usually, we follow that with a wave or “hello” and still keep a wise distance. When I say “elite,” I am being wry or facetious, not really labeling anyone I encounter. I really mean “special.”
The other day, in line at the Ketchum post office, I said this to a teaching friend I had not met in nearly a year and a half. One woman turned around and said, “Oh, so only the rich come here?” I assumed she was kidding, as well, so I replied, thinking I was being funny, “Yes—only the rich in spirit. Our chauffeurs took the day off.”
Later, I read comments concerning the latest fear of evictions and the conflict between some landlords and those facing homelessness. I remembered that I once was jealous of some of the very wealthy people who live amongst us. Lately, though, in thinking about the pros and cons of my tenure on this earth, I am happy to say that I no longer resent the very successful people I know. I just wish that more struggling folks could have some of the comfort money can buy, like the BIG obstacle facing so many—affordable housing. Resentment doesn’t change anything.
In my musings, I faced the reality that some of my choices could have led to a measure of wealth. However, I chose to take a teaching job instead of pushing harder on my search to be involved in early cable TV in Los Angeles. I chose to invest my modest savings, failing to obtain a license for a radio station so many years ago. I chose to leave a gorgeous home with a view of the Pacific sunsets because I was lonely and miserable even in those glorious surroundings. I chose to leave a lucrative teaching job and the resultant retirement at Beverly Hills High School to move here and, at one time, work three part-time jobs.
I could have stayed in an unhappy marriage or perhaps remarried for money. I could have risked some real financial stress, though temporary, when one of the television executives interviewing me said, “You’ve ONLY been a teacher,” by persevering and convincing him and others that that kind of public-school interaction with about 150 or more teenagers a day taught this storyteller how to budget time, think on one’s feet, be creative with a captive audience, and deal with the widest variety of humans imaginable.
I loved teaching, so I don’t regret that I’m not in a bigger residence to manage, that I have friends of all incomes, and that I don’t need to kowtow to be on someone’s guest list. I am content.
So, my fellow less-than rich, let’s keep on being grateful for what we do have and the wonderful people around us, whatever their financial status may be.