01-29-2018, 01:40 PM
The main difference is we champion people rising up, where as in a caste system as noted it simply isn't going to happen.
As to can it be done? Yes, it can. My parents (in their mid 50's) both now are six figure earners with neither attending college after both growing up lower middle class. One started out as a waitress, while the other was a warehouse worker and both have made their way up the ladder through grinding it out. When I was growing up we were broke. I am talking "do we eat or keep the power on" broke in the early years. My dad would hustle side jobs on the weekends building fences and decks, plowing snow, or literally hustling pool. In the early days of the internet and Ebay they would go to garage sales every weekend then spend the evenings during the week reselling items to make extra money to allow us to do things like eat out and do "fun" things.
I am in a position where I grew up without money, but later we had some money as I got older. The thing this did for me was instill the idea that hard work can change your situation if your willing to do what others aren't. In that rise through their careers, my parents were willing to uproot and move the family multiple times in order to advance their careers. We moved to places where we knew no one, but since others in the companies weren't willing to relocate it gave my parents a chance to advance. Eventually they had advanced to the point where they could turn down relocation assignments and we got to lay down roots.
I ended up going to college on a scholarship and being able to get to a situation where I am going to be able to give my kids a head start in life, which I think is every parents dream. I think it is important though to always remind my future kids what my parents did for us, and in turn them, to get them to a situation where they can keep moving up in life. I agree that things like this are passed between generations, but at the same time someone has to be willing to take on the burden of being the foundation of that upward movement for a family. I am grateful my parents did that for me and my siblings.
As to can it be done? Yes, it can. My parents (in their mid 50's) both now are six figure earners with neither attending college after both growing up lower middle class. One started out as a waitress, while the other was a warehouse worker and both have made their way up the ladder through grinding it out. When I was growing up we were broke. I am talking "do we eat or keep the power on" broke in the early years. My dad would hustle side jobs on the weekends building fences and decks, plowing snow, or literally hustling pool. In the early days of the internet and Ebay they would go to garage sales every weekend then spend the evenings during the week reselling items to make extra money to allow us to do things like eat out and do "fun" things.
I am in a position where I grew up without money, but later we had some money as I got older. The thing this did for me was instill the idea that hard work can change your situation if your willing to do what others aren't. In that rise through their careers, my parents were willing to uproot and move the family multiple times in order to advance their careers. We moved to places where we knew no one, but since others in the companies weren't willing to relocate it gave my parents a chance to advance. Eventually they had advanced to the point where they could turn down relocation assignments and we got to lay down roots.
I ended up going to college on a scholarship and being able to get to a situation where I am going to be able to give my kids a head start in life, which I think is every parents dream. I think it is important though to always remind my future kids what my parents did for us, and in turn them, to get them to a situation where they can keep moving up in life. I agree that things like this are passed between generations, but at the same time someone has to be willing to take on the burden of being the foundation of that upward movement for a family. I am grateful my parents did that for me and my siblings.
