If you are young, and growing up in the United States, you are fed it ever since you are little. You are special. You have potential. If you work hard, you will become great. Everyone is exceptional. If you are intelligent, it's even better. You get great test scores. You outperform your peers at almost everything. Eventually, you are placed in special programs, for "gifted" children, and there, you run with the top dogs. Throughout all of your formative years, you are used to being the best-- most likely to succeed. Most likely to succeed, most likely to get the girls, the fame, the fortune; and why not? You have a great mind. The sky is the limit, anything you want to become, you can be it. All it takes, is a little hard work. So you ace all of your classes. You go to a great school, graduate with respectable grades, and get a job. You work for an average paycheck, buy an average house in an average neighborhood, and drive an average car. You rise at 7, eat a light breakfast, work until 5; do chores or waste time until bedtime, then it's rinse and repeat days turn into months, months into years, years into decades, decades into a lifetime no girls no fame no fortune no glory. Just a family, if you're lucky, and an IRA big enough to support you until you're 80 (don't live past then or else you'll find yourself in big trouble). Congratulations, you've lived the American Dream. A little hard work and you can do anything-- but someone has to fill up the suburbs (there aren't enough mansions to go around). We all get a piece of the pie-- it just so happens that your piece is very, very small. You wake up one morning and you're forty five, your life completely wasted. America, where is the fame and the fortune that you promised me? I was born a gifted person, I tried hard to make use of my talents, I swear I did. But all that I have to show for it is an endless flow of paperwork; construction plans for chemical plants; credit card statements and retirement plans, W2s and 401Ks, a BS from Columbia and an MBA. A small house on a culdesac, in a quiet neighborhood where all the houses look the same, and a 40" flatscreen television (with HD!!). I thought I would be able to travel. I thought people would know my name. I thought that after I died, there'd be something I'd leave worth remembering. I thought I would be able to live life on my terms. I thought I had what it took to be great.
conversely my father underacheived in school did drugs had sex and went to wild parties... got held back a year, and then worked his ass off at the local community college got accepted to cal poly san luis obispo(a fair decent school) dopped out from there half way through his senior year... and he's retiging at the end of this moneth a multimillionaire at the age of 55 what you said is only true if you view your excess money as discretionary income as opposed to investment capital. trust me if you live off the interest you generate from your investments and invest your entire income you CAN get somewhere. It's jsut that a very large majority of peopel don't. and for the record I was always told i was a genius I've been placed in special classes since I was 7 and I've achieved very high test scores... net result - I'm cheap, I've saved a majority of my income form my job, I have A LOT of scholarship money, and I'm going to the same community college as my father. I'm 18 and already have nearly a year knocked out before I even registered for my first full semester. I'm looking to be into my first condo by the age of 25 and my first house by 30...
basically what he mentioned while true for many doesn't necessarily hold relevance for 100% of the population.
I believe you are the best person on GR mate. I really like reading your post and like you are really like an idol. I do really admire you mate.
You're story is not true. Working hard in this country means all the difference. My friends dad was a high school drop out, he busted his balls working at a cement place, and today he is the manager of the company. Obviously you're not going to become a huge name and be written down in text books, but you will live a stable, good life. Is it really that bad?
I read it all and i realised how real a person you are dude. I think about this a lot. Im only 15 and i still got my whole life ahead of me. And i realised to fulfill my dreams ive really gotta work for them. I have no idea what i want to do for work, my dream would to be signed as a musician, chances are low but my optimism is high, and in the end you only get one life but who would wanna live twice?
Every parent loves their kid, and I was one that was filled with the bullcrap that I was incredible, out of the ordinary, destined to succeed. It's difficult to grow up and then see that in reality, there are so many talented kids out there that can't make it, how do you expect yourself to? In reality, the only people that want you to succeed is yourself, MAYBE your parents if you're born lucky. It's very hard not to feel jealousy as a gut emotion when fortuitious things happen to others. The majority of the choices you make again are yours alone. You choose to graduate and go to an average job - why can't you walk the ladder? Look at the fag we all have a hate/love relationship for, the cliched Bill Gates. What would have happened if his Microsoft thing flunked? I would like to imagine him failing at life and becoming a 25 year old that lives with his parents etc... In the "American System" we all go to college to start our career early, to do the same routine day in and day out for the next 40-50 years of our life. Where is the excitement that I thought I was going to get when I went to a good college? What happened to the second house in the Caribbean, or Paris? I had good grades in high school, I got accepted to a decent university. Why am I going to settle for mediocrity when I surpassed all of my colleagues in the years before me in school?
basically hes saying: lifes a bitch. Although reading you latest post i really do wonder why you havent realised why your life is so bad. YOu just expect all the stuff to magically happen for you, becuase you got good grades. You have to actually get out there and make it happen.
But thats the thing! Everyone works hard, and they always stay in the lines of mediocrity. Only a few selection of people do extremely well, and it's not because they work hard. It's because they take chances that have like 1 to 10 ratio of actually working out, and they get the better end of the deal. Why does playing it safe, never end up having your perfect dream job, with your dream car, dream house(s).
I'm one of those kids thats been told for all my life that I'm exceptional. I've been in gifted and talented classes since I started school, and now I'm a junior in high school getting straight A's in all AP classes. The problem is that I've never learned how to study or work hard in school because it's always come naturally to me. I'll bet I've studied for a grand total of about 10 tests in my lifetime, but I manage to keep my straight A average. I only do about half my homework, but I always make up for it on tests. The sad thing is, I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I get to college and don't understand things right away. I get the feeling that a lot of that stuff will be over my head, and I won't really know how to handle it, and because of this, I won't be able to excel anymore. I'll end up in an average house in an average neighborhood, and I'm afraid I'm always going to wish I'd tried harder.
Did you fail a test today or something? Get fired? Miss out on a promotion? Life is what you make out of it. If you decide that you're going to work your ass off, get some corporate job, work for twenty years, and retire and live out your little dream, good on you. If you decide that you're going to do something fulfilling that, though you enjoy the job, doesn't pay as much as the said corporate job, good on you, too! If you sit around on your ass all day (because, after all, those with potential really don't need to work, do they?) and wonder why your paycheck didn't come in, you're an idiot. Some people start ahead. Usually, it's because Mommy and Daddy or Grandpa and Grandma worked their asses off before them, so that (if they choose), their kids don't have to do a thing, live a nice life, and stay rich off investments and stocks and whatnot. They either f**k it up and lose it all, stay stable for the rest of their lives, or get even richer. Some people start behind. Take my old neighbor. Born in 50 Cent's dreamland, dad was a drug addict, mom was dead when he was seven. Grew up with drugs around him, cousins getting arrested, bla bla bla. One day, he realized that he didn't want his kids to grow up the way he did. Went to school, got a useful education, got a decent-paying job as a mechanic. Now he lives in a nice house, and, more importantly, his kids won't have to grow up like he did. Is he drinking martinis on the deck of his yacht? Nope. Will he be doing so in the future? Probably not. Does he have a good life? Absolutely. Life takes work.
