Differing Perspectives + A Cat

I've been making a point of having breakfast the same time as Dad every day even though he gets up later than I do. I guess it's second-breakfast for me, technically. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to have the regular time together, maybe we could get to know each other better, move beyond the surface level conversations we have.

This morning he made a lengthy monologue at me about the 'sorry state of Canadian society'. His beef seems to stem from the fact that one of his companies hired a new CEO that has some amazing story of growing up in tough circumstances, going through the foster care system, etc. but managing to get through university and then business school and then blazing a trail through industry being wildly successful. Hard to believe this would be a story that anyone would tell disparagingly, but that’s what my dad did. I think he appreciates the guy’s talents and abilities, maybe even appreciates his tenacity in overcoming barriers to get what he wants. The apparently unforgivable sin was to be self-made rather than from a family of note.

This is backwards to me. I think we should be more impressed by the accomplishments of those who started out with fewer advantages and opportunities. For example: me. Given all the opportunities and resources I've had in life so far, it would be reasonable to expect me to be doing well. Which, uh, maybe I’m not a great example at the moment. Strike that. What I mean is – new CEO guy would hardly be remarkable if his dad and mom had been CEOs and he had been trained from youth to be a cunning businessman with a spot picked out for him at a posh business school.

No matter how many times Dad and I have these conversations, I can’t understand it. It is just a belief, I think, a different world view on what has value and what does not. You’d think it would have been left behind in Victorian England, but I assure you – class nonsense and discrimination against self-made people or new money is alive and well in modern Canada. At least it is in my house.

I'm including a photo of a neighbour's cat to lighten the mood on this post, fyi.