Interesting thoughts. I grew up with no credit cards, no air conditioning, very old cars and rental apartments. I thought I was rich and wanted to give to the poor but my father kept saying "We're poor." I assumed he was kidding. In the first grade I picked up mangos and sold them to buy any toy I wanted. Anything I wanted I could earn with my lawnmower. Put myself through college and grad school and now I'm retired and own a great home which I've redesigned and remodeled, and beautifully landscaped by the sweat of my brow.

Yet, I feel guilty about my privilege. I don't deserve all this. Yes, I've worked and done a lot myself, kept myself healthy and, yadayadayada. But I was born with the ability to do that and I never earned what I was born with. Even my work ethic was passed on to me by others. I get sick of people saying "I earned it" or "I deserve it." I had honest and mostly functional parents, great teachers in the early grades, and that's whey I've had so many breaks. I didn't deserve that. It made me who I am, able to do some things. All I can do is try to pay something forward.

Now I do a lot for others, volunteer, give to charities, and have reached out to other cultures. Trouble is, every single thing I've done for someone else just made me feel even more blessed. Why should I have been someone who could help others and feel loved in return? My sense of insane privilege just grows. O dear God how I wish people could understand that even breathing is a privilege to be shared and whatever we share makes us richer. Often the poor get blamed for feeling entitled to welfare, but it is the wealthy who have the real "entitlement" attitude. And the idea that "I earned this" makes the richest despair in the misconception that they are somehow treated unfairly. For me, I know I was treated unfairly -- far better anyone could deserve.

Don't know who you are but once I started writing all that just wondered out.