GUMBY, Martha, et al: This dialectic commenced when I responded to the normative comment by BARB...in which the poster asserted that so many of the members of this forum make six figures and view it as an inherrent right to do so, and that it must be due to something beyond our control. If you viewed my posted reponse, I did take umbrage with that, but also encouraged him/her. Next thing I know Martha is inferring that I fail to recognize and allow redress of certain inequities and am told to not give me that pull up by own bootstraps "stuff." Then Gumby questions even the size of my heart, charitably spoken.
Recognizing that every person is unique, and thus, so is his or her story, and to postulate, that becasue one can do it, all can is poor logic. But, the dialectic, to be learned from anecdotal stories, such as my own, which is a "bootstrap" story, (parents didn't graduate from high school; I worked in the same sawmill/lumber yard/truss plant that my father died in), as a roofer, laid asphalt, U.S. Air Force, night classes at local community colleges; post USAF discharge as a firefighter in Fairfax County, VA; finished B.S. in Health Care Administration magna cum laude (phi beta kappa); worked up the food chain to become a hospital president; returned to school while my son was an infant to earn MBA with highest honors (phi kappa phi); wrote graduate textbook with then Dean of MBA, now College President; became a tenured professor at top southern liberal arts university; went to law school at U.TN; Medical School at U.A.B. (third in class, but felt stifled by the regimen of private practice, the intent was to "take over" my father-in-law's opthalmology practice) one year as a missionary in BAcold City, Republic of Phillipines and Bandung, Indonesia, when I quit, and people questioned my sanity for doing so, I worked for six months as a security guard at a local lime pit, in order to get my head together and plan my next move, and I actually rather enjoyed the solitude; like(d) investing better. What do I do now? Iteach at a small private school at which 70-80% of the students come from the inner-city and can't afford to pay the tuition, so we "help."No bona fide vitae right?
The secret predictor of success, is that there is no predictor. WE all know individuals born with what the general consensus would agree "all" of the advantages, and have watched them crash and burn, all the while wonddring what went wrong and what can we do to help. Like wise, those of humble, even some might say disadvantaged socio-economic circumstances rise to great heights. Dr. Ben Carson, Johns Hopkins neuro-surgeon, first to separate siamese twins joined cephalically, is an acquaintance of mine, and such an individual (read his biography Helping Hands). Onca again, is it nature or nurture?
I determined that the latter is the one thing we can do something about. I am not referring to the outlier, the person with the I.Q. of 85. But, to the one with an I.Q. of 100 who is waiting for something to happen for them, rather than them happening to it! Accepting responsiblity for the outcomes reasonably associated with decisions under the individuals control. We cannot control, or hardly influence, exogenous, macro events, we can decide to study hard, work hard, be honest, etc.. That's not bravo sierra hombre.We're are not talking MENSA here, rather success as a person; all of the Maslow higher needs, and a buy product, for those who make it a priority, will probably a modicum of financial independence. Many academic studies, and replicated for mass consumption by Danko and Stanley in The Millionaire Next Door, support my basic thesis.
So, here we are. Perhaps it was the nuance and we actually all agree on the big issues, perhaps not, but as a "newer" member of the forum, I won't accept second hand status.
Let's be friends.
