Essential Snobbery 101: To serve and be served reveals a mindset of wealth

A fictional pandemic life

The different perspectives journaled of lives during this Coronavirus pandemic have given some insight into the way we deal with situations somehow out of our control. The organ grinder of our government’s spouse created a veritable work of fiction about the Coronavirus experience of their family situated in London when in reality, they had driven up to stay in Durham.

All on the premise of the need for childcare, which left us reeling from realising some people were above the law. Lest we forget, Make Wakefield’s family does own a castle, they are too establishment to follow the rules. [iNews: Mary Wakefield Spectator article: How Dominic Cummings’ wife’s coronavirus story differs from his statement]

A wealth pandemic life

A few days ago, we were brought to luxurious Kensington, a large house with enough space to invite order occupants to sequester as part of the enforced quarantine process. What followed was a life lesson in the power of wealth to insulate you from the common that the exclusive almost begins to grate.

Now, I have no issues with the piece Shruti Advani wrote for the Financial Times, it was a window into the cares, concerns and priorities of those who do not have to bother about the means to get anything done. Self-absorbed and lacking in self-awareness as it might seem, you begin to realise that you have to find ways to create your own bubbles in a turbulent world. If wealth gives you that opportunity, then, so be it. [FT Wealth: The awkward lessons of my luxury lockdown in Kensington]

Accommodations of orderliness

What places her in this exclusive situation is borne of many things, she inherited wealth, used to edit a magazine about private wealth, and her husband is a venture capitalist. She retained a sense of order around the house tripling the delivery of flowers and when she found that kiddie arithmetic was a bit out of her league, she hired a private tutor for her son whose educational challenges appear to be between schoolwork and chess, forestalling the future need for a psychiatrist.

There is a method to the whole narrative. Engaging in some conversation on Facebook, someone noted that she was namedropping. The names dropped were those of helpers rather than of friends or colleagues. It exudes in my view a sense of confidence without a hint of social climbing, the designer or brand names simply mirroring her comfort zone. Obviously, she has a personal shopper.

Reality is at the door

Yet, her world is not devoid of reality, the pandemic bears weighty risks, death being present and threatening with the recognition that wealth offers some protection, but it is not a talisman. The pandemic through being spread around the world more by the rich has inordinately affected the poor and ethnic minorities more.

The undercurrent of the writing still points to the many pressed into service to make our lives bearable, the nanny, the florist, the delivery men, the private tutor, the house help that cooks, the personal shopper, the police, and the ambulance crew. Eliminate those you cannot afford.

I came away with two thoughts if I were ever to be affected by it at all, that wealth is a mindset and something you need to be conditioned for and that it is a nice life if you can afford and live it with any sense of guilt or apology. We are not called to carry the world on our shoulders, there is usually enough on our plates.