I like sharing the conversation I have with my students, so I hope y’all don’t mind.
I was speaking with another ambitious young lady yesterday. She comes from a privileged background where she said money has never really been an issue. She lives in south side Charlotte and has both of her parents in her life. Seemingly has a very good relationship with both.
I asked her did she have a boyfriend and she said yes.
Now, we all have standards and I totally understand why we have them when it comes to relationships with people.
Like most ambitious women, she has a plan and determined to ensure those plans go through accordingly. She is a 4th generation college student which is amazing in itself. So she has been exposed much differently than the majority of black folks out here.
Her boyfriend goes to community college, which she claims she doesn’t have an issue with. I believe her. However, she said she wants to be taken care of, so she pushes him to try and make something for himself. Again, I have no issue with that. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t come from the same background as her, so a little motivation and push might be good for him.
Here is where the issue comes into play. I ask her, “what if it takes him longer to establish himself because he has more hurdles and road blocks to overcome?” She already mentioned that she impatient, so I asked, “do you think it’s fair that you expect the same from him as you do yourself?” She stumbled a moment, then said “no.”
I ask, “what if he in unable to financially take care of you the way you want to, but he is a great father, gives you emotional support, and cares about you? Would that not be enough?”
She sat and thought about it, and I could see that she never thought about those other things. I told her to be careful with those expectations you set. She has all the right in the world to have them, but just understand it might not be fair to the other person that is incapable of meeting them in a relationship.