(January 8, 2016 at 1:21 pm)mh.brewer Wrote: For me, success. But now you have to define success.
I hate that word precisely because it is just as cliche and loaded as any other platitude.
I am fine with humans having different goals and desires and there is room for all classes. What I am not fine with is demonizing the poor, or our pay gap. Most people if lucky manage to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table, but even that is becoming harder even for the middle class.
The world has enough rich and famous people. And I hate this attitude that if you don't move up, you are worth less. Sagan's Pale Blue Dot speech states the nature of reality. Friend and foe alike end up landing the same way. Rich and poor also end up landing the same way. We are equal.
I don't mind at all saying "do what you want in life", I do hate celebrities like musicians and sports stars and politicians saying "you can do it". The math is simply not there for everyone to get to the top. If everyone was at the top at the same time no one would do the work. There will always bee more in the middle and at the bottom. It isn't impossible to get to the top, nor is that saying don't try. But to ignore the odds sets people up to be unrealistic and then needlessly punish themselves when they don't get there.
If you cannot get to do what you love, and most people don't, then the next best thing is to work with people you enjoy and use your off time to relax doing the things you do love. So my definition of "success" is being happy and being yourself. Material things come and go, but relationships are far more important. Some do get lucky, and nobody should fault them for that. I only frown on those who get to the top and forget that they did not do it all by themselves.
