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To: NOW who wrote (107899)	6/9/2001 10:42:38 PM
From: GraceZ	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 436258

Your example ( fine as it may be) is in no way proof that what he wrote was BS Of course it isn't proof even though I can give him my story and that of at least a few dozen others I know personally that are escapees from poverty. I think if you want to understand what enables people to escape poverty it might behoove you to listen to people who have, instead of simply accepting the generally accepted dogma on the right or the left. Not only is what he wrote BS, it's exactly that kind of BS that keeps people from being able to make substantial progress in their lives. First off he equates success with mean income: what will be the mean income of all the children in this group? would you agree the probability of financial success is greatly stacked in the favor of the closet child? no? good thing! the fact is, the millionaire children were fortunate. I don't define success with income level. I've known an awful lot of rich miserable people in my life. I've known a number of people with modest incomes whom I would say lead very successful lives. is persistence genetic? yes? then one is fortunate to have good genetics. is it learned? yes? then one is fortunate to grow up in an environmnet where persistence was nurtured. You can find junkies that are persistent and I wouldn't call them successful or fortunate. You have to direct your persistence in a positive direction. Some people learn to be persistent and others are naturally that way. Here he applies his theory using an completely extreme example of an abused child against one that grew up in a positive environment. good fortune can not always be measured in terms of dollars and sense. an environment that develops the foundation of success is critical. i'd submit that children with rich parents locked in a closet for their first 5 years will not earn as much money, on average, as a child growing up in a poor family that nurtures confidence, persistence, hard work, education and a few other virtues, all else being equal. remember, the first child will be 6 years old and have little clue how to talk, let alone function correctly. Give me a break. If you read the accounts of children that were abused in this manner you'll find that most couldn't function at all and wound up being institutionalized. Hardly a realistic example of a simple disadvantaged child against one with advantages. Aside from the fact, that those Columbine High School boys that did the mass shootings grew up in pretty normal middle class families. Most of the drug addicts and alcoholics I've known in my life have been from solidly middle class familes. grace, prejudice against rich people doesn't take food off the plate of their children. can i be excused for not prioritizing their "emotional" hurt as highly as i do physical harm? not that it isn't real, but it is down on the list a bit. This is where he excuses his own prejudice against wealth. The prejudice against wealth in this country doesn't take food off the table of the rich child but it does wind up justifying confiscatory tax laws which oddly enough wind up taking food off the table of poor people. What he ignores, what most people ignore, is that human beings tend to thrive on adversity. I didn't succeed in life in spite of the adversity I had to overcome as a child I succeeded because of it. Would I wish it on someone else, another child? No, of course, I wouldn't. But even a child born to wealthy parents has pain, suffering and adversity in their life to get past. It's ridiculous to think otherwise. If anything money can bring on even worse suffering than the lack of it. If you read the stories, the autobiographies of rich and famous people, they are full of suffering and disillusionment.