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Originally Posted by Lefazz  An individual has to have ambition to do what you did. MOST people do not. And it's not a switch you can flip to just "be that way". It's a psychological trait that you either have or don't have. |
Maybe ambition is a trait, I don't know. I do know that while we grew up poor, my parents always preached about you "getting out of life what you put into it" and that "you can do anything you want" and that "life is tough, you want something, earn it" and that "no one owes you a thing." Eventually, my parents also moved out of the 'hood. They both earned graduate degrees and were able to get out of living in the lower middle class. By the time I turned adult, they had gone from not being able to pay the bills at all, to doing well. I still remember when we got our first apartment. It cost 13K a year in rent (we lived on the East Coast), and that was all that my Dad made in a year. I will never forget her crying when she found out that every penny they made would go to rent.
I can't ever imagine telling a child that the man is going to be able to hold them down. I have a cousin who all the time somehow manages to relay to his kids that the man is trying to hold them down and they'll never have a chance. He's convinced that as long as there is a Republican alive, that there's no use in trying to work above minimum wage. Also, earning a degree is useless, because the man will try to hold him down.
Some people give up before they even get started.