Michelle Nhung Le

Posted on: 30/8/2021

$100. It could be someone’s daily allowance. Yet, it could also be another person’s monthly spending. This divide continues to exist.

Skill. A word yet so easily spoken, but filled with so much twist. It inevitably defines who we are, where we stand in our society, our successes…this is a never-ending list.

It is not the number of skills you have, but how good you are at it. And this fact can surely be missed. Additionally, the skills one depends on for a living have to be unique, something that is not easily done by everyone. Although a cleaner might be very skillful at mopping the floor, this skill can be easily acquired.

Contrary to popular beliefs, how talented you are at a certain task may not be dependent on one’s level of education. Chan Hon Meng, the chef and owner of the world’s first Michelin starred food stall, was a high-school dropout. “Devotion”, he said.

I like to think there is an added element of luck to it. My parents are two of the hardest-working people I have known. They battled with the rigged economic game, delivering goods in our rugged little car. It has always been a pain to me when they come home, their hands black and rough from carrying the heavy goods at work, with sweat beads still dripping down from their foreheads. Their attempts of trying to hide their tiredness often fail to numb the pain I feel inside.

In contrast, my ears are often drowned in conversations of misused privilege. “My parents only gave me $100 for this week, I think they want me to starve!” “This is made of real crocodile skin! But I have to buy other purses again soon because if I bring the same purse to work, people will think I am poor!” What if there is a way to redistribute wealth, so that everyone is equal?

Income inequality can cause a huge social divide. It is the divide between the haves and the have nots that are creating tension in our society. This challenges the values that we hold firmly and dearly in ourselves.

Skills, like wealth, can be passed on down the generation tree. The transmission of privileges, or disprivileges, holds the key to this societal stratification. It is also something that one can easily foresee. Some children are deprived of their rights to go to school due to this inequality in income, as their families struggle to break into circles of privilege. This vicious cycle will continue to repeat itself. Hence, a dream of mine is to create and maintain a charter school, which would accept students using a lottery system. My hope is that it would allow children with financial need the opportunity to procure a quality education in an inspirational environment, where it will provide them with a platform to discover and nurture their own, unique talents.

We need an economy that works for all, not just the privileged.

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