Living with Privilege, Wow, What a Ride!

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” — Hunter S. Thompson 

Greetings from South Padre Island, TX. I’m sitting next to my wife and Queen in bed in a nice little beach condo. We have a marina we can fish from, not much of a fisherman, but in Rome. It was a long day of travel yesterday; starting at 4:00 a.m., we got to the condo just in time to take a shower and jump on a virtual social call with some of our friends in Denver. I had not played bingo in years; it was fun; I didn’t win squat, but it was fun; my wife allowed me to keep my commitment even though it fell on our special time.

We plan on working this morning; I missed a deadline for a friend; I woke up about 2:30 a.m. with that Oh My God-feeling, I will get this taken care of this morning, damn it, we have time, but I promised I would deliver some numbers by Wednesday, it’s Friday a.m., I don’t error often. Still, when I do, I’ll own it.

As we were boarding the plane from Houston to Corpus Cristi, we had the young man that scanned our ticket make an announcement. He was an Asian young man, very excited, doing something of a cross between a Disney video and a vegas show. His act was something like, “Guys, guys, guys, ok, we are getting ready to board, and I wanted to share with you some things…” He droned on for about 10 minutes with his voice hitting us like fingernails on a chalkboard. He was excited to greet you onto the plane and then got an encore standing in front of the aircraft announcing famous people’s names that had yet to show up. It was over the top even for this wanna-be comedian. I jokingly said, “that is the reason for Asian hate in society today.”

Again, a joke; I don’t judge a person on their race, color, or creed. But as an individual and this guy were not in my 8%. I wish him no harm but could see where someone might want to beat his ass, and then others would say, you only did that because of X, when in fact, you beat his ass because he was annoying as hell.

I’m not a fan of ass beating; I’m a lover, not a fighter, but I can see where if you were a fighter how you might get “triggered” to take action.

This rush to class people by group and not their individual attributes is gross. I know it’s a thing; that’s the way of society today. You have this group over here, this group, they get this, but this group does not. They are giving reparations to a particular class of people due to their “history of oppression,” but another color of folks gets nothing. Does this make sense?

We will go for a walk on the beach; we will check out this island; it’s nice; we did see an accident where some spring breakers flipped a golf cart by our condo. The police were called, it reminded me of something I would have done as a kid, I would have been the driver, I would have been drinking, I would have probably gone to jail and tried to keep that secret from my parents. That was my childhood, getting in trouble and then hoping to God Mom and Dad didn’t find out.

I dodged a lot of bullets as a kid, times when I should have been taken to jail for drinking, a scuffle here and there, or maybe that time I dropped that hand-rolled “cigarette” in front of a University cop and instead of cuffing me, she handed it to me with a wink. I was an unruly kid that some would say had the privilege.

Speaking of privilege, I enjoy the benefits offered to me, not because of my race but because I worked hard to build wealth. I don’t think it a bad thing to want to get to a level where you earn extra benefits from purchasing a fast pass to make life easier. Take, for example, TSA Pre; we have been TSA Pre members for seven years, it’s $85.00 for five years, it allows us to save about an hour a flight, so if you think about it during the four years of our weekly flying, we saved about 200 hours of our time for $85.00.

I am an A rewards member on Southwest due to the amount of flying we used to do. I get free internet on the flights while others pay $8.00 per flight; again, $8.00 x 200 trips equals a savings of $1600.00 over that period.

I’m a Hertz Gold member; I get special discounts, treatment when picking up a car. I get off the plane, my name is on a board, I can pick any car I choose, and the process is almost zero. They have my info, know what I like, and make it easy to travel; that is a privilege I earned due to the number of times I used to rent a car.

If I owned a coffee shop, I would add a line for people in a hurry. Time savings is a privilege that I am willing to pay. If I go to a store and there is a long line, I would gladly spend 10% more to fast pass my way past the line and get on with my day. The word privilege has a bad connotation these days, but I, for one, think it ok to take advantage of what society has to offer no matter your race, color, or creed. These things I mentioned above are not due to my race, they are expected due to the structure our lives, and anyone can do the same.

I may have triggered a few people with this one; I’m sorry, not the intent, but those who work hard, gain privilege. And some of us then use that privilege to help others. Elon Musk is investing millions of dollars into this community after relocating from East Germany, California. He landed in West Germany. Texas is now privileging the citizens of this area with his wealth to help build a community that attracts scientists and engineers.

Oh well, it’s just my opinion, man, no big deal if you agree or disagree; I’m just tired of this word being used in a derogatory nature when it is a joy to work hard and get to “fast pass life.” Cheers from our honeymoon; we will enjoy this afternoon loving and learning about this new area, we are looking for our next paradise, and this might be it. Maybe or maybe not, but life should not be a journey to the grave…” Take it away, Uncle Hunter.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”

— Hunter S. Thompson