Quote:
Originally Posted by IrishIllini
I think it's unfair to assume that individuals who are trapped in poverty or families mired in generational poverty are there because they are lazy or stupid. The United States has always striven to be a land of opportunity, but opportunity was not awarded equally. It takes 10x the effort to get that job at that well respected firm when you're born and raised in Englewood and your competition was born to a middle, upper middle, or affluent household with the resources and network in place to be successful. In the past, being able bodied and having an average work ethic was enough to put you on a course to the middle class...not so much these days. Better have that STEM degree or an advanced degree in a marketable field with 10+ years experience if you wan't to feel secure and maintain your middle class lifestyle.
Sounds like you did well for yourself, so I don't say this to belittle you, but you're definitely the exception and not the rule.
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amen. its like someone being born with the rule book to chutes and ladders and then handing them a chess board and expecting them to win at it. its safe to say i wouldnt be where i am today in my life if i didnt have the parents i had, the education i had, the neighborhood i grew up in, my own life experiences, the global economic climate during the period all of those things have taken place in, living in a country that has not suffered from wars or invasion or overthrows, etc. Thats true of everyone, and just because 10% of people are able to rise out of a situation dosent somehow negate the other glaring 90% who are generationally stuck, or even falling behind. To say nothing of the fact that American is not a level playing field and its hilarious to suggest it ever was. Human beings have this bizaree trait that they latch onto the outliers as evidence to support their cases rather than focusing on the overwhelming trend. And if they themselves are that outlier, than you can be rest assured they will spout the bullshit "if i did it than anyone can" line. I think we all generally discount just what a role luck plays in all of our lives, and the fact we're not all dying at the age of 8 of starvation in a poor African nation, and other people are, is nothing more than cruel cosmic chance. Id ask yourself though if the decisions youre making in your own life are exacerbating or helping to close those divides, because that is the one thing you do actually have control over.