I Admire Depth And Understanding
So while growing up - I was definitely confused. I thought the world, especially America, was a meritocracy. I mean, I was under the impression people who COULD, DID, and were sought out for those abilities; and that those who COULD NOT, ended up being the people who didn't have great lives.
This is not true, it really is more of a situation of
"You can do anything you want, IF your efforts mesh with the opportunities that life provides for you."
That's not the worst situation in the world - but it is a DIFFERENT one than the one I thought I was preparing myself to accomplish.
I have recently had the vision of using a grinding wheel while sharpening a blade or grinding a piece of metal. The grinding wheel makes the pieces of metal break off, and as they get heated during the process they glow and become "sparks." Now, often some sparks are much brighter than others, some seem to fly many times farther than others, and there isn't much rhyme or reason VISIBLE to account for these differences in the "life" of these sparks.
Some of the best, biggest, and brightest ones just shoot directly into the ground, alongside of the ones that don't even glow, or glow very faintly and briefly. Many sparks seem to flow together, yet every once in a while there is a different spark that shoots off all on it's own and there are no other companion sparks with it.
I feel this is very comparable to life. I think if I had been provided with different opportunities (not just financial, but socially & educationally) that I would be living an entirely different life.
Right now I am sitting at a table next to a couple doctors that are discussing things with the ER. I don't think I'm being narcissistic (probably the proof that I am one...) by saying that I believe wholly that I could not just follow their discussion, but I could contribute to it. I don't mean to say that I am more capable than these doctors, just that I feel I was cut from similar cloth.
But, it doesn't really MATTER what my abilities are, it matters what others think they can collect from me and my efforts during life. I have misunderstood this for a very long time and it also has caused me untold amounts of emotional pain. My family is very financially motivated and they brought me up in that paradigm. I always felt some sort of disconnect with it, and as a result I am not a wealthy man - quite the opposite (due to student loans, despite the fact I graduated) in fact.
Yet this world is so silly. We are supposed to be nice and care about others, but then it's understood to be not only acceptable, but GOOD PRACTICE to invest into the stock market. The stock market is just a way for the rich to get richer and for people to take advantage of those who are poor - it's just it removes the knowledge of those being taken advantage of - so others don't think about it.
They think, "I saved up $50K; that means I should get $3-5K free per year if I invest that!" The thinking stops there... They have, and they are owed more - no other logic is installed into the equation.
But, the reality is that the people who make their money in the finance sector just connect the dots between the have's and the have's that are controlling many have-not's. The extra money made by these efforts is split between the two different "have's" people, and the work is done by the "have-not's."
The people investing wouldn't even support the work and the way they are taking advantage of others - if they actually had any idea about it. But they don't - the only ones that do are those who work in the financial sector, and the people who make their business go public. We have an entire financial sector of the population that gets paid VERY well, and they literally DO NOTHING to improve the world. They just play with money that other people have earned and will earn. They DO NOTHING and they scrape untold amounts of BILLIONS off the top. Someone has to EARN THAT MONEY!!!
We need to stop "gifting" wealth to the rich. They have broken this country and we need to get it back. Lobbying needs to become illegal and we need drastic political overhaul.
This is not true, it really is more of a situation of
"You can do anything you want, IF your efforts mesh with the opportunities that life provides for you."
That's not the worst situation in the world - but it is a DIFFERENT one than the one I thought I was preparing myself to accomplish.
I have recently had the vision of using a grinding wheel while sharpening a blade or grinding a piece of metal. The grinding wheel makes the pieces of metal break off, and as they get heated during the process they glow and become "sparks." Now, often some sparks are much brighter than others, some seem to fly many times farther than others, and there isn't much rhyme or reason VISIBLE to account for these differences in the "life" of these sparks.
Some of the best, biggest, and brightest ones just shoot directly into the ground, alongside of the ones that don't even glow, or glow very faintly and briefly. Many sparks seem to flow together, yet every once in a while there is a different spark that shoots off all on it's own and there are no other companion sparks with it.
I feel this is very comparable to life. I think if I had been provided with different opportunities (not just financial, but socially & educationally) that I would be living an entirely different life.
Right now I am sitting at a table next to a couple doctors that are discussing things with the ER. I don't think I'm being narcissistic (probably the proof that I am one...) by saying that I believe wholly that I could not just follow their discussion, but I could contribute to it. I don't mean to say that I am more capable than these doctors, just that I feel I was cut from similar cloth.
But, it doesn't really MATTER what my abilities are, it matters what others think they can collect from me and my efforts during life. I have misunderstood this for a very long time and it also has caused me untold amounts of emotional pain. My family is very financially motivated and they brought me up in that paradigm. I always felt some sort of disconnect with it, and as a result I am not a wealthy man - quite the opposite (due to student loans, despite the fact I graduated) in fact.
Yet this world is so silly. We are supposed to be nice and care about others, but then it's understood to be not only acceptable, but GOOD PRACTICE to invest into the stock market. The stock market is just a way for the rich to get richer and for people to take advantage of those who are poor - it's just it removes the knowledge of those being taken advantage of - so others don't think about it.
They think, "I saved up $50K; that means I should get $3-5K free per year if I invest that!" The thinking stops there... They have, and they are owed more - no other logic is installed into the equation.
But, the reality is that the people who make their money in the finance sector just connect the dots between the have's and the have's that are controlling many have-not's. The extra money made by these efforts is split between the two different "have's" people, and the work is done by the "have-not's."
The people investing wouldn't even support the work and the way they are taking advantage of others - if they actually had any idea about it. But they don't - the only ones that do are those who work in the financial sector, and the people who make their business go public. We have an entire financial sector of the population that gets paid VERY well, and they literally DO NOTHING to improve the world. They just play with money that other people have earned and will earn. They DO NOTHING and they scrape untold amounts of BILLIONS off the top. Someone has to EARN THAT MONEY!!!
We need to stop "gifting" wealth to the rich. They have broken this country and we need to get it back. Lobbying needs to become illegal and we need drastic political overhaul.
