Lamenting the Lucky

Listen to the life stories of some well-off people and you’ll inevitably hear the story of a tragedy. The tale of some catastrophe that they had to struggle to get over -- not because they wanted to but because they felt like life had given them no choice.

For example, one such person I once knew lost his father when he was just fourteen. For many years, he was the sole support of his mother and his younger sister and he was constantly pressured to quit college as a result. But he didn’t and eventually he reaped the rewards of his sacrifice. Yet he was then discouraged from visiting his old neighborhood. Why? Because he was now successful enough to wear a suit to work -- and many of the people in his old neighborhood did not trust anyone who wore a suit to work.

Of course, not every well-off person will have such a story. No doubt, many will undoubtedly be the type of people who were born on first base and thought they hit a triple.

But not every well-off person is like that. And you can never tell without knowing them which of them inherited their wealth and which had to work for it.

Yes, it is hard to feel sympathy for the well-off. But then again it’s hard to see how rewarding the formerly poor with criticism or ostracism acts as much of an incentive for the presently poor. At best, it encourages the type of envy which is often more of an obstacle than an inspiration. At worst, it discourages the formerly poor from having little to no contact with the presently poor. And who exactly benefits from that?

Perhaps the type of people who would rather see no person escape from poverty than see the wrong type of person do so.