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This is a bunch of crap! I grew up in a poor family in a not so good area. Father was a drunk and couldn't keep a job and my mom worked as a waitress her entire adult life since she had no other skills. I could have fallen into the same category, but there's a point where you're then responsible for your OWN life and can make the decision to either be a loser or be successful. I put myself through college by working and going to school full time. I've had a successful career every since, even after taking time off to be a SAHM.
Life is what you make of it and if you're handed lemons, turn it into lemonade!
There are a few exceptions of course as with anything but they generally are few and far beteeen. Also, how old are you? Did you enjoy a nice long successful career before the country went to crap? Before massive unemployment, underemployment and ridiculous cheap employers with their ridiculous cheap hiring practices along with massive outsourcing?
It used to be 1000x easier to “make something of yourself” in America than it is now
There are a few exceptions of course as with anything but they generally are few and far beteeen. Also, how old are you? Did you enjoy a nice long successful career before the country went to crap? Before massive unemployment, underemployment and ridiculous cheap employers with their ridiculous cheap hiring practices along with massive outsourcing?
It used to be 1000x easier to “make something of yourself” in America than it is now
its also generally easier to do it when you stop blaming other people and just get on with making something of yourself part
There are a few exceptions of course as with anything but they generally are few and far beteeen. Also, how old are you? Did you enjoy a nice long successful career before the country went to crap? Before massive unemployment, underemployment and ridiculous cheap employers with their ridiculous cheap hiring practices along with massive outsourcing?
It used to be 1000x easier to “make something of yourself” in America than it is now
I agree. People of my parent's generation didn't deal with all the layoffs and outsourcing there is nowadays. They simply have no idea so they sit back and judge, judge, judge.
Every hear the saying "luck is where preparation and opportunity meet?" There's a lot of truth there. Certainly sometimes extreme things happen. You could get hit by a bus. But in the general context of life everyone has opportunities. You don't know when and where. And they are sometimes disguised. It's kind of like the discussions on education. Some people see education as an end and don't understand why their education didn't give them anything. Others understand it's a beginning and grow from there.
I really wonder if high school athletics can be the cruelest thing a school can do. On the one hand I support the values like teamwork and discipline. My own kids were athletes in high school. But both knew that academics was more important. Yet on the other hand there are too many kids, esp in football it seems, who just happen to be a bit better than the other kids in that area. So the coaches tell them how wonderful they are. And the fans are glowing all over them. In high school they are cool. They are heroes. Then college comes and they find out they really weren't all that and a bag of chips. Suddenly they are no longer heroes. And the fans and coaches are gushing over the next 17 year old while they are forgotten. High school was the high point of their lives, now it's downhill from there. And school didn't prepare them, in fact set them up for failure.
The thing is that my family did try to prepare us but he was always more concerned about social status and having fun than working or studying. He went to college and pretty much decided he didn't want to work that hard to succeed and dropped out. He has only really done menial labor since 2006. When he got out of prison the last time in 2016 a buddy of his set him as a HVAC assistant to him and he did that for a couple months. The he moved over to a Electrician Apprentice and worked his way up to $18 an hour with benefits. This was all well and good he was working at a good job providing child support for his 2 kids and even insurance.
Then he got hooked up with drugs again and it went downhill from there back to getting arrested. He has no one to blame but himself in reality and I don't feel bad for him, finally my mother has stopped enabling him.
I think it boils down to a simple answer, though -- Some people are just not very ambitious or competitive and/or they are just happier being in a subservient role. I have an above average IQ, but I just never wanted any kind of high powered career, and I have never been very materialistic, plus I am also a compulsive worrier and I don't like stress.
There have been probably a dozen times or so that people have wondered aloud to me as to why I didn't do "better". However, I find other ways to stimulate my mind, and I have a nice home, a good husband, and a good marriage, and I am generally very happy -- and I know many people who have good careers who can't say the same.
(Oh, and btw, I am now almost 65 and mostly retired, but I am now working as a part-time wine consultant in a very large liquor store, and I "love" my job -- so just because you see a senior citizen working at a minimum-wage type job, please don't automatically feel sorry for him or her -- they might be working because they WANT to.)
Last edited by katharsis; 05-25-2018 at 11:28 AM..
No, absolutely not. I used to work at:
Sea world
Six flags
Whataburger
Like many kids it was a summer job between school and most would quit as they go back to school or college. However, there were a portion of folks who were middle aged and intended to use these jobs as some type of career. The military is too “hard” for them as well as college.
Well, I did both and they’re still flipping burgers. There’s certainly nothing wrong with people choosing to smell like fast food their entire life, but often these are the first people complaining about a lack of an living wage.
L
(Oh, and btw, I am now almost 65 and mostly retired, but I am now working as a part-time wine consultant in a very large liquor store, and I "love" my job -- so just because you see a senior citizen working at a minimum-wage type job, please don't automatically feel sorry for him or her -- they might be working because they WANT to.)
I would love to be a wine consultant at a liquor store. I considered applying for a part time job doing this as it paid $20 an hour. It would also be fun, interesting and I'd learn a lot of about wine.
I think it boils down to a simple answer, though -- Some people are just not very ambitious or competitive and/or they are just happier being in a subservient role. I have an above average IQ, but I just never wanted any kind of high powered career, and I have never been very materialistic, plus I am also a compulsive worrier and I don't like stress.
There have been probably a dozen times or so that people have wondered aloud to me as to why I didn't do "better". However, I find other ways to stimulate my mind, and I have a nice home, a good husband, and a good marriage, and I am generally very happy -- and I know many people who have good careers who can't say the same.
(Oh, and btw, I am now almost 65 and mostly retired, but I am now working as a part-time wine consultant in a very large liquor store, and I "love" my job -- so just because you see a senior citizen working at a minimum-wage type job, please don't automatically feel sorry for him or her -- they might be working because they WANT to.)
This x 10.
In any case, a 'successful' and 'decent' career is going to be defined by salary, and ... salary.
A corporate M&A attorney who makes $230,000 a year is always going to be seen as successful, and "Look at what my son Johnny has become." when ... I cannot imagine a more miserable job.
OTOH, somebody working at an aquarium making $18/hr who may be very happy is a failure.
Hmm I have thought about it actually. If someone is older but doesn't make much, they're either 1. Have tried and struggled but still failed (a lot of factors can play into this) 2. Actually content where they are and lives a simple life (good for them) or 3. the wreck-less ones that that doesn't even try.
I feel quite bad for #1, especially because I am younger and work in recruiting.. so being in my field, I ask for the incoming candidates about their salary expectations and sometimes I'm quite surprised the answer I get. For example, just the other day I was on the phone with a guy with over 10 years experience as a Sales Dev Rep- he was asking for $60k salary. He sounded like a nice guy over the phone with some solid experience.
And looking through resumes every day, there are people who have really good experience and academia credentials but their salary is on the low side. ::shrug::
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