Growing up, I read lots of books around historic lifestyles and was shocked by the danger, disease, and lack of eg plumbing or electricity. I felt super thankful for everything I had in comparison, I lived in amazing privilege. I wonder if this sense informed my political views-
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Where somewhere in my brain I process the "baseline" existence as so far below what we have today, and I feel primarily gratitude and wonder for everything capitalism has brought us as opposed to anger that it hasn't delivered more.
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I grew up reading the "Little House" books where the big Christmas treat was getting a penny and an orange.
I never doubted that I was super fortunate to live in the US of A.
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When I was about 7 yo, I donated the penny I earned as weekly pocket money to what was called in Ireland, “The Black Babies”. I did this for over a year.
It was years later I realized it was to assist the Ibo victims of famine/genocide in Biafra.
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Imagine having all your teeth rotten and blackened, up to a point where your jaw starts to rot too. That's Louis XIV the Great, the Sun King, "l'état, c'est moi", the most powerful man of his time. Anyone living today with access to dental care is more rich and powerful then him.
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I’m not sure. I lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a kid and mostly what it solidified for me is how much I want people in places like that to have access to the things we do, and how much I want people here to have equal access to the marvels of our world.
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