Reply #200: Wonderful post- gee where shall I start

[Ocracoker16]

I do agree that in this society there are far too many individuals who believe that they shouldn't have to give of themselves to others. They see life as a big competion which has winners and losers. It is an every man for himself sort of game which rewards the winners. Winners tend to take ownership of their success in life and attribute it to their own efforts. When they look at the losers, they characterize them as not having what it takes to compete in the world today. They conclude that it is just too bad that these people can barely stay above water in this society. It is just the way it is. Why should they the elite have to give up what they earned themselves?

This kind of attitude contributes to the rich getting richer and the poor being left behind. One of the problems with this sort of hypothesis is that people give themselves far more credit for their successes than they truly deserve. Unfortunately, not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth. There are people like George W. Bush who didn't get to a high position without the help of daddy, family connections, and money. It is one thing to benefit from certain socioeconomic factors, but the problem comes when people fail to recognize that these things may have contributed to their cozy place in the world.

We have all been dealt a hand in life and we do our best. Even if we don't do our best and we fall on hard times, we don't deserve to be written off. We all make mistakes, but that shouldn't cause people who are doing well to turn their backs on us. They might be the experiencing poverty one day themselves.

Poverty doesn't discriminate, yet people discriminate against poor people.