lazygood4nothinbum said:i don't buy that it is human nature for people to be jealous of each other. i think more often than not what you perceive as jealousy is nothing more than a person's frustration they have with their own life, not that they are unhappy for you that you have your life. that you perceive it as jealousy, even if it is jealousy, might speak less to where they are coming from and more as tribute to your own insecure ego.
lazygood4nothinbum said:feel as free as you want to question my values. but i know that there is a young person who is just as smart as you, maybe even smarter. who lives below his means, maybe even farther below than you ever dared dream. who works harder to just feed himself than you might imagine. who is dedicated beyond breath. only this child was not born in the land of opportunity and often dies at his mother's breast.
how many people put their hand up for the job you got? none of them were better or equally qualified? while it is comforting for some to think we determine our own fate and while character certainly has great value, without luck it might not get you far.
how does another person's jealousy insult you at all--either your luck or your character--when a person's jealousy has nothing to do with either. for you to be insulted you would have to conclude that your success is the cause of their jealousy. so not only are you in complete control of your own destiny, owing nothing to luck (which i know you concede but i'm on a roll here), but apparently you also control their lives, causing within them jealousy. at best they might be projecting their envy on you which you then interpret as jealousy. but just so you shouldn't be insulted, the thing about penis envy is that it really has nothing to do with the other guy's penis. nothing to get insulted about even if the insult was intended.
Once in a while someone on the board talks about how all everyone in this country can be successful and FI and even FIRE if they just had the gumption or got down to business. I try to respond with posts that say success isn't all just buckling down but may be due to a variety of factors, including where you grew up, what your family was like, how smart you are, how much common sense you have, how good is your mental and physical health, how pretty or handsome you are and what kind of genetic makeup you have. How much were you blessed. Lack of gumption, determination, and willpower are complicated things, not a switch to turn on or off.
You write good stuff Lazy. I can see why you were a writer in your previous life.