It all started with this comment in a Facebook conversation thread :

It deserved a proper response, so, here it is :

Dear Da****e,

A true friendship deserves full honesty. So, please let me answer with full honesty.

You don’t know what you’re talking about. At all.

Being born in a rich family and being born poor or even in an average family, that’s two different worlds.

You’re right about nobility. Legally it doesn’t exist since more than a century. Nevertheless, the French society still remains segregated. Depending if you’re native, foreigner, if your family comes from a former colony, which college you attended and, unfortunately, whether or not you’re white. That’s facts, I’ve witnessed it.

When you’re from a rich family : because of France colonial history, chances are you’re white. You live in a comfortable neighborhood, you’re parents have a social network full of people who can open your path to great opportunities, you can apply to famous and expensive university, colleges or private school(cause you don’ have to ask the bank for a loan). Once you’re in one of those  schools, you only meet rich people students with no problems (except choosing which car you want you’re dad to buy for you). At the end of the day, you’ll graduate from a prestigious university/college/school with a highway to top jobs in top companies, reproducing your parent’s path. I know it because I work with them.
That’s easy life, you just have to work.

When you come from a poor or an average family, thinks are very different.I’m just going to talk about my path to illustrate this. Disclaimer :  we were the lucky ones…

My parents were born few years after the second world war, in the working class : my grand-fathers just had one option : going to work in an iron factory, whether or not it was dangerous, an it was.
My father’s father died at work when my father was 4. That was a period (the 50’s) during which there was not always food on the table, yes, in France. My father had no chance to get out of this school-factory life cycle.
The only option : Working harder at school so that he can eventually go to , not even college, but high-school.
And that’s what he did with success. He worked so hard that he was given to opportunity to go to high-school then college. After this tremendous hard path, he became a teacher

My mother followed the same path. They both worked for the state as teachers for fourteen years.

Being a teacher in the 80’s and 90’s was very grateful: the wage was not good, but you had the respect of the student’s parents and a bit of consideration from the state.

They both made they forty-something years long careers, working hard, teaching to childrens, poor and rich, regardless of their origin. How do you value such a lifetime?

During those years, we, my sister, brother and me, never felt poor. We had a roof above our head, food on the table, we were able to go on holiday, thanks to our small car, but only in our home-coutry France. Do you remember the time when, taking a plan was a very expensive luxury ? Well, it wasn’t even a dream for us.

We’re a family of 3 children, all of us went to college during early 90’s. My parents asked for a loan from the bank for all of us so that we had a descent education. We three succeeded, because we were told to study hard and work hard, and that’s what we did.

I’m from the far east of France, Moselle department. When I started looking for a job in France in the early 00’s in the IT field, there was plenty of opportunities.

My dream was to find a job in Paris, just like the average young French graduate. Reality was hard to accept: even with trendy professional skills, with diploma, there was no way I could afford to rent a small apartment in Paris. So, just like the most of us in this region of France, I searched for a job in Luxembourg and found one, 35km away from my parent’s home, decently paid.

Even with the top-notch international diplomas (French and german), I couldn’t afford to live and work in my own country. Living next to a frontier with another country (Luxembourg) saved me from a long-time hunting for descent situation.Well, I could have found a place to live and work in Paris or any other part of France, but that would have reduced any monthly savings to zero. How can you plan for a future when your situation reminds you that there is no future-proof solution for you ?

I’m one of the lucky ones : my parents  paid for my studies with their tears and blood, because they could.

Many of my school friends haven’ had this chance: “you did what you had to do at school, now find a job”.  That’s what they have been told.

Those people, my school friends, are those who are protesting against the government. Why are they protesting or going on stike?
When they have a salary, half of it is taken from the state : joblessness insurance, health insurance, local taxes (town taxes, energy taxes,public schools, highway and roads maintenance and so on..). When they are jobless, they still must pay taxes but financial helps from the state is ridiculous.
That make me more than sad, but some of them are going to vote for the far-rights parties (Rassemblement National, Reconquête), because those parties are yelling with the exact same message, blaming foreigners and refugees to take and eat French people jobs, which is outrageously wrong.
I can’t blame those people voting for the far-right (which movement has been issued from former nazies, I will tell more about it in another post) : They are f***ing desperate !

Electricity, petrol, food, taxes; inflation are going through the roof as there wage doesn’t increase and the companies which are employing them are to going bankrupt.

The whole French people is not complaining the government, they are just legitimately expecting form the government to be heard.

That’s when we can see that nobility is still in place of France : those who have the power are not listening to those who have voted for them. Those who have the power are considering themselves as being above the crowd, untouchable. That’s when democracy dies.

In the meantime, rich people’s family have moved to a tax haven, then paying no taxes to there France.Life is easy when you’re rich.

“Tax the rich, feed the poor
‘Til there are no rich no more”

With my deepest respect,

N.D.