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To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (157421)	5/29/2003 1:10:05 PM
From: Skeeter Bug	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

you attribute everything to accident of birth. no i didn't. what i said was that the rule is parents play a HUGE role in the way a child turns our. many people are as successful as they are b/c they picked their parents right. that's a FACT. is that attributing everything to accidental birth? no. perhaps a parent taught a kid a strong work ethic that led to success. the work ethic is key, but so was the parent who chose not blow crack fumes in their child's face as joke instead of teaching their child a great work ethic. do you disagree? did you have an equal chance to become an nba star of michael jordan's quality? what was the difference? genetics and burning desire. michael's parents and their situation were key to providing both to michael. the playing field was never level. that's not to say micheal didn't bust his tail and work harder than most. then again, his mother wasn't doing lines of coke and drinking fifths of alcohol while she was pregnant, either. good thing, right? if mike was a crack baby, would we even know who he was? Innate intelligence is not at all part of the equation? first, where does innate intelligence come from? GENETICS. where does one get their genetics? THEIR PARENTS! HELLO! in addition, intelligence is learned, too. who teaches children? THEIR PARENTS! victor, ya gotta think through your arguments better. What about drive and persistence, emotional intelligence, and deferred gratification? all of which a parent helps to develop. lock a kid in a closet for 5 years and see what ya get. some parents do EXACTLY that. put a kid in a neighborhood you'd be scared to spend 5 minutes in and make him spend his life there... like some parents do... yes, there are exceptions - but they prove the general rule. How do you explain the fact that not every child of attorney parents is worth $40 billion? i don't have to. all i have to explain is why those folks with better parents fair better than those kids with not so good parents. they do. the ego may not want to admit, but it's true. to deny the impact of ENVIRONMENT on a child is to live in lala land, imho. some folks want to feel like they deserve their good fortunre. they owe nobody or anything. they did it all themselves and everyone that didn't do just isn't as "innately awsome" as themselves. that's just not true. you wouldn't be where you were today if your parents were iraqi and not part of the baath party. perhaps the police mighta killed you to get info from your parents - REGARDLES OF ALL THOSE INNATE CAPABILITIES YOU ATTRIBUTE THE "SUCCESSFUL." yes, much of what you have today was due directly to good fortune brought on by nothign you did for yourself - and you ought to learn to be thankful for that good fortune rather than try and elevate your intelligence above others - many of whom coulda done much better than you given your background. or, given their background, you woulda done much worse. we just don't know b/c we can't run a scenario analysis. i didn't say people don't work hard or have special insight - many do. what i'm saying is that parents help to develope those skills and energies and passions - or they can beat their kids and give them low self esteem. to deny parents have a HUGE impact on their childrens future is to have one's head buried deep in the sand. if you pick your parents right - you are on your way to success. if ya pick 'em really wrong, you have little, if any chance, of being successful. there is a lot of room inbtween these extremes, but the general rule holds extremely well. that's my point.