Oh-oh, yes, I'm the great pretender
Adrift in a world of my own
I've played the game but to my real shame
You've left me to grieve all alone
What is the price of pretending?
The United States is unfortunately a caste, class-based, society. There
are the best schools, the best neighborhoods, the A-list, first class travel, etc. If
people have certain characteristics they might be treated as if they are in a
higher class. For example a white male who
graduated from two Ivy League schools might be considered to be a male WASP. At least
in my own case that assumption would be wrong. I am a male and white but I am also an
Irish‑Polish Catholic from a working class, union family. My family has members with different genders,
different sexual orientations, disabilities, and have, including especially me,
mental health issues. But my last name is Beagan, and while Ronald Reagan was President
I answered to BAY-gan and was assumed to think and act like Ronald Reagan, even
though I pronounce it BEE-gan and I don’t think like former President Reagan. I
should have corrected the pronunciation. But then I should have also objected
to the accompanying disparaging comments and jokes about religion, nationality,
gender, unions, income, sexual orientation, disabilities, mental health, etc, but
I did not.
Those who have a different sexual orientation
can talk about the cost that comes from being in the closet. Those light-skinned
blacks who are passing for white, pay the cost of knowing that their identity could
be uncovered. Not to put myself in the same category, but I have played the price
of being in the closet, passing, pretending I was in another class. If I believe
that there should be no classes, and that no one is better than another, then I
should act as if there are no classes, and not accept the benefits that come
from being incorrectly perceived to be in an “higher” class.
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