There is a good deal of talk about how bedbugs and lice are a common urban problem that don't just affect "poor" people, but I so rarely hear the middle class talk about these pests, that I was starting to wonder if
that wasn't just the politically correct thing to say.
Living in an apartment building for the past six months, we have experienced both (the lice came from the daycare our kids attend, and the bedbugs, well -- we haven't had them personally, but the folks in the unit above us have, and so we sprayed and then caulked EVERYWHERE as a preventative measure, and so far we have been lucky. The bug situation in our building has been an irritant and a source of stress, but not a full fledged personal drama!)
My perogative has been to speak openly about these situations so that others might feel comfortable to do likewise. Rather than feel like a piarrah and keep my mouth shut, I have joked incessently within the various circles I move, about the bugs in our building and on the boys' heads. While some circles around me have "widened" slightly when I share this information, others have breathed a collective sigh of relief.
You see, it turns out that the middle and upper classes do have bug problems... Just this week someone in a class I'm taking told me about his son having lice, and how shocked he had been because his kids went to a well known private school, and he thought lice was a condition of the lower classes. Another fellow shared that he hadn't wanted to tell anyone, but he's had bedbugs for over a week and it's killing him -- he went into explicit detail about it, and we all showered him with genuine concern and empathy.
As a homeowner (yes we rent here, but we have a place out East, too) and someone with a higher education, I think it is critical to share the ills of life with others -- only through this kind of openness can we dispel the myths surrounding various societal issues, and begin to actually move forward with acceptance, understanding and concrete solutions.
Lice and bedbugs -- they're everywhere, not just in the poorhouse!
Living in an apartment building for the past six months, we have experienced both (the lice came from the daycare our kids attend, and the bedbugs, well -- we haven't had them personally, but the folks in the unit above us have, and so we sprayed and then caulked EVERYWHERE as a preventative measure, and so far we have been lucky. The bug situation in our building has been an irritant and a source of stress, but not a full fledged personal drama!)
My perogative has been to speak openly about these situations so that others might feel comfortable to do likewise. Rather than feel like a piarrah and keep my mouth shut, I have joked incessently within the various circles I move, about the bugs in our building and on the boys' heads. While some circles around me have "widened" slightly when I share this information, others have breathed a collective sigh of relief.
You see, it turns out that the middle and upper classes do have bug problems... Just this week someone in a class I'm taking told me about his son having lice, and how shocked he had been because his kids went to a well known private school, and he thought lice was a condition of the lower classes. Another fellow shared that he hadn't wanted to tell anyone, but he's had bedbugs for over a week and it's killing him -- he went into explicit detail about it, and we all showered him with genuine concern and empathy.
As a homeowner (yes we rent here, but we have a place out East, too) and someone with a higher education, I think it is critical to share the ills of life with others -- only through this kind of openness can we dispel the myths surrounding various societal issues, and begin to actually move forward with acceptance, understanding and concrete solutions.
Lice and bedbugs -- they're everywhere, not just in the poorhouse!
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