Mmmmmm, capitalist chicks!
Posted on 09/05/2002 1:18:16 PM PDT by vannrox
Just another rant- by Debbie (email author)
Déjà vu:
1) An impression of having seen or experienced something before
2) A dull familiarity: monotony
I have had the same verbal exchange so many times now that I can almost script it. It's like being in a predictable Twilight Zone episode. I know every line and what the out-come will be yet I am doomed to sit and endure every moment up to it's inevitable conclusion.
It always starts and ends the same:
"...but other people are not as lucky as you and I are. "
"Define 'lucky': what do you mean by that?"
"I mean that other people aren't lucky enough to be college educated like us."
"So you scratch a winning lotto card now to get a degree? When did they start that?"
"You know what I mean! I mean that other people can't afford college educations and they're forced to work at minimum wage jobs, wearing name tags and serving burgers."
"I'm not college educated. I dropped out of high school at age 16. By 17 I was pregnant and by 18 I was a teen mom. I worked 16 hour days at multiple minimum wage jobs, wore a nametag, and yes, I served many burgers through the drive through window. Now tell me, if I'm so 'lucky', what did I have that these so called nameless others did not?"
I never get an answer. They 'blank out', as Ayn Rand used to call it. I've had this discussion with a college co-op student, co-workers and neighbors. The faces change but the basic premise of their argument is always the same: other people are helpless and just plain stupid. They cannot get ahead without intervention by those who know best. How elitist is that!? Typical.
Nothing angers me more than to be called lucky. It is always those people who have never seen hard financial times that attach the lucky label to wealth, without ever once considering that it had to be created. An effort was made by somebody at some time to achieve their current comfort level.
I made poor choices in life, which led to poor situations. These were MY choices and therefore MY responsibility to change the situation I put myself in. And just as there was no 'bad luck', which landed me into my seemingly dead-end lifestyle, there was no 'good luck' that got me out of it. One job wasn't enough, so I got two more. I worked 16-hour days for two years, never having a day off. Eventually, I got better jobs and worked less. I took every free class I could find. I paid for summer computer courses and went at night after working ten-hour days. I invested a lot of time, energy and effort to improve myself and it paid off. What did I have that the so-called nameless others did not? The answer seems simple enough: ambition. When people attribute it to 'luck' it undermines the effort required behind it. I am not the only proof that success can be achieved through hard work in a free society. Look at the immigrants who come here with nothing and succeed.
I worked very hard to achieve my goals and self-respect. Don't call me lucky: call me a Capitalist!
Mmmmmm, capitalist chicks!
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