Twice a week, I’m a coward. As I sit in class for an hour and twenty minutes, I am humbled by the independent stories of homeless mothers and their children. While many of theses individuals have been inserted into an inevitable trap of poverty, struggling to make it day-to-day with only two dollars in their pockets, others have been blessed with material items.

As soon as that hour and twenty is over, it’s no longer a matter of “Hunger and Homelessness.” At 2:30PM, the setting transitions to “Consumers and Consumption” where I am faced with the overwhelming reality of overconsumption in American culture. The privilege many millennials have come to identify with is borderline disgusting. While cellphones in kindergarten are what is expected by many children of affluent backgrounds, for children born into the cycle of poverty, food is never guaranteed. It’s fascinating seeing the divide between those who buy shoes for the brand name, those whom shoe’s aren’t even an option for. As situations become more emotionally, physically, and financially draining, the expected standard of living consequently decreases.

As sociology major, I have come to understand that this educational route means despising almost anything that I encounter that faintly smells of inequality. Seeing beyond societal, economic, and political issues in hopes of finding a solution requires energy that individuals in society fail to search for.