While in Nairobi recently, I went riding with a woman whose family owns a nice stable in the outskirts. Their home is expansive and lavish, the horses fine. One of the stable hands stole a very good saddle, and she tried her best to explain that she doesn't have the income to cover such expenses.

As I listened to her, having traveled extensively to places where White=Rich no matter where you are or what your bank account looks like, I could absolutely understand the disconnect. The concept of cost of living to her stable hands is beyond their ken. Surrounded by such riches, it's also incomprehensible to them that she can't just go out and purchase fifty more fine saddles.

What we as Westerners don't realize, and this is everywhere and everyone, is that others invariably assume that others have it better. They judge the external,. as the stable hands did, and it makes sense to them that of course we're rich. Most of them have no idea of savings, money management or anything else, so they don't even possess the language with which to put such concepts.

If I am rich enough to travel to developing countries, I am by definition, rich, and rolling in money. It makes little difference to them that my credit card miles pay for the flight and that I often trade my writing skills for the very expensive experiences. I am also on a tight budget. All anyone in a developing country sees is White, which means money.

Further, you can be assured that after decades of watching movies and TV shows about Americans who are decadently rich (Dallas comes to mind), much of the rest of the world assumes that what they see on the screen is the reality for all of us, including that we all pack guns. For those who fight hard to cross the border in search of another life, they are chasing a fantasy. It is beyond them entirely that where I live, in Oregon, and all the way up and down the West Coast, and along the sidewalks and under the overpasses are tens of thousands of homeless Americans.

Even then, they might argue, at least you have a tent.

We are not going to convince anyone to change their ideas and beliefs. They can only see it for themselves and even then, the deeply-held beliefs that all White folks are rich will not dissipate. In addition, Black Americans who travel to Africa are often seen as American, and rich, and Western, having nothing whatsoever to with Africans. Talk about being a stranger in a strange land.

So while I get your point, it's a pointless in one sense. There was a time my company was making around $125k a year. I was able to pay myself a salary one time in all the fifteen years I ran that company. The princely sum of my salary? Five thousand dollars. I worked 80 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. That means for that year I made 1.20 an hour. All the other fourteen years I couldn't afford to pay myself a salary. So let's do the math: Over the course of fifteen years I averaged eight cents an hour. But to your point, anyone looking at what the company grossed would assume I could live high on the hog.

I either just barely made my bills, or scooted into the next year bleeding red ink and praying for something to improve.

See what I mean? Our assumptions make fools of all of us. And you can make the identical statement about all those idiots who lionize the rich and famous, and who have no clue whatsoever about their actual lived lives.