LogFAQs > #942817269

tigerslashII posted...

It's not magic, but it does determine success from failure more often than it doesn't. I was raised on food stamps and welfare Christmases and dropped out of school, now I'm working in a good career with amazing pay potential, all because I applied myself, own my mistakes, and went back to school for a degree in a field that is rapidly growing.

My family is broke, but they're broke because they don't do anything to help themselves. I lived my life using them as an example of what not to be and it has served me well so far. They're not where they are because of bad luck, they're where they are because they refused to change. And that's life, financial and otherwise.

Hard times don't make strong men, hard times leave only strong men standing.

It's great that you were able to do that, but you recognize that it's far more likely that you wouldn't succeed than what's actually happened. You recognize that, that's why you're proud of it, right? Any number of things beyond your control could have permanently derailed you, opportunities that you received could have fallen through, your hard work could have been spit upon.

I could give the same story as I'm an immigrant from a third world country with working class parents. Yes, I've worked hard but there's no way I would think that what I've achieved was inevitable based on my hard work or anything like that. It's a series of incredible lucky breaks that have gotten me where I am and I think it would be crazy to say that people who haven't had those breaks or who haven't gotten where I am should just be assumed to be less worthy.

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I gotta be righteous, I gotta be me, I gotta be conscious, I gotta be free, I gotta be able, I gotta attack, I gotta be stable, I gotta be black.