educational sacrifice.

I've been lucky enough to grow up in a wealthy country with a lot of governmental privileges and all the rest but even in a rich western country like ours there is still a large opportunity for socio-economic failure.

My family has quite a history and as the youngest, although I was alive at the time a lot of the events occurred, I was shielded from it and am still constantly discovering more about our financially troubled past.

This much I knew: when I was seven we lost our house that I'd grown up in, that my parents had built; and my dog was given away and proceedingly we moved in to a house much older, smaller and dirtier far away from the old one.

I knew that when I was eight I almost got to go to a brand new school a long way from the one I'm still in today, I knew when I was nine we moved to a nicer house near a park and got another dog

I knew when I was ten that my dad couldn't afford that house and again we had to move to a worse one, in which my whole family was unhappy and cramped (we had to ship a lot of our sentimental things in to storage just so we could fit)

Um and then I knew that we tried to buy a couple of houses and my dad had to borrow money off people to do so, that we couldn't end up affording.

I knew my mum got sicker and my dad got balder and fatter and that both of them just wanted to own a home and were embarrassed about their financial circumstances.
So that's what I new and this is what i know now:
I found out recently that the first house we moved from, that was because my Dad almost went bankrupt, the banks threatened him and through selling the house of his dreams in a desperate situation he lost between 100,000 and 200,000 dollars.

I learnt that my mum got sick from all of the stress and resents my dad still for his screw-up.
I learnt from my older sisters that mum and dad spent the whole year after we lost the house, and for a bit longer fighting and constantly arguing.
I learnt that the money my dad borrowed off some people (like $10,000 from my uncle) he hasn't to this day given it back.
I learnt that 10% of his debt to the tax office is 50,000, which sparks calculative curiosity, right?
I learnt that my sisters both had to give up various courses and school programs because of their cost and our situation.

I realised that my family made a conscience effort to make sure I didn't feel the suffering they felt and to allow me my childhood.

But the most important thing is why they went through all of that trouble. Surely as a lawyer you'd think my dad could earn a lot of that money right? He might have but it didn't help that he and my mum decided, against all odds that my two sisters and I should continue our private education.
8000 dollars a year all of our schooling lives + a year of kindergarten. Each: that is 96,000 dollars I think? 96000 times three and that will give you an approximate figure on how much they have spent.

All of my life they have held on to it for me, an education. Our schooling is their biggest and longest investment.

When I was eight and they almost could no longer withstand the grind of constant debt, the thought of us changing schools grew tempting; my sister put her foot down, she would take nothing less than what she had and made them stay. At that stage I wouldn't have even know the difference. But my family's decisions, their presumptuous authority guided me in the right direction.
The most amazing thing is that they have never expected much back from me. They're not nazis with grades or money hand-outs, instead they take note of my talents and advise me from them as to whether or not I should do or couldn't have done better.
They only ask me to behave well, with dignity and respect for others and from our set of difficult circumstances I think that each of my sisters and I are strong too.

I guess through the school and through my parents I have learnt through their example, the true meaning of love, compassion and supporting one another.
I've learnt that receiving only comes from working hard enough to deserve and giving, well you do that because you couldn't in a life time give back in equal porportions what has been given to you. It's like I'm being looked out for, it's like everyone's trying to make me better and no matter how much self pity I build up some days, they still want for me to be better, stronger happier.

My school and my family has taught me to only see the good in people because no matter how well it is hidden, it will always be a beautiful thing when you find it; much more pleasant than the alternative, anyway.