Comment by AnkhMorporkian | Hacker News Reader

Comment by AnkhMorporkian | Hacker News Reader

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> at least he did something.

I mean no offense, because I do sorta appreciate what you're going for, but this is almost the most philosophically, semantically, and most sillily empty sentence that exists.

Everyone does something. People who do 'nothing' do something. We only praise people whom succeed publicly or fail publicly. Even then, we only praise the people who fail when we ideologically align with them. We don't praise people who go out there and try to start a hate group, nor the ones who succeed.

Trying isn't really something that should count to other people. I won't say it shouldn't count to the person who tried it; self-esteem is a very personal thing. Failure shouldn't necessarily be a bad thing personally either, but let's not pretend that it's usually a good thing. The vast majority of failures are just failures. Starting a bead store in 2017 isn't a good idea, and we shouldn't congratulate my mother-in-law for doing it and wasting 30k in investments, nor should we congratulate her investors.

Edit:

Also, can anyone tell me if I should have used 'who' or 'whom' here? I don't 'think' it's the direct object, but I will defer to someone else:

'We don't praise people who go out there and try to start a hate group'

Sure, sure—but you're cutting one small phrase out of my larger sentiment. I know it's a dumb platitude. I said as much. I'd prefer the focus of my comment be the rest of it.

I didn't think I had to break it down further, and I was trying to be cool and all that, but what I was trying to say is: [if you know that area of Toronto, the location he chose was not that out of the way business-wise, but it is a little bit and ] he was trying to bring growth and culture to an area of his city that needs it. He was trying to do something that would have a significant positive impact for his family and his community. That seems like a good thing to me, overall.

He didn't do everything wrong. The reviews he received, being rated higher at some point than Bar Isabel (one of the best, if not the, best Spanish restaurant in the city), and Cafe Boulud (one of the finest French restaurants in the city at the Four Seasons in Yorkville) are substantial.

Wasn't congratulating the guy. He's got a tough road ahead. I'm just encouraging the humanist understanding treatment vs. hard-analytical treatment of the article. He already knows he's screwed He's said as much. That might mean he wrote it for another reason, no? It certainly isn't encouraging charity. Maybe he just wrote it for people like himself to read? I think that's a good starting question.

Apologies, I'm a few glasses of wine in, and your elucidation made it much clearer. Thank you for your response!

No problem, I can see where I fuzzed my own points!

I feel like this story really highlighted all the guy's flaws, and hopefully exaggerated them. As you say, he must've been doing something right.

The story seems like he took a terrible risk he couldn't afford, he didn't prepare or research things well, and his endeavor failed largely due to his own shortcomings. Sure, he learned something and has a story. He also borrowed and lost thousands of dollars from his friends, and severely set back his family - possibly for life. Given that he's unlikely to be a restauranteur again, his lesson doesn't seem that valuable either.

I hope the story was unfair to him; perhaps reality was more complex.

I quit my job and lived out of two bags for eleven months:

http://khanism.org/perspective/minimalism/

When that failed I had to get a real job again, but got sick of it after a year and a half:

http://penguindreams.org/blog/leaving-full-time-jobs/

Then I took off on the road again and eventually had to return to the full time job/life:

http://khanism.org/perspective/a-tale-of-two-journeys/

I did something. I failed .. well maybe not failed so much as just didn't find a way to sustain myself. But each time I hope I get a little better at it.

And yea ... at least I tried. One day I'll be dead. At least I got to see Singapore, feel the wind of New Zealand, ride through the deserts of Australia, do a radio poetry show on the 8am commute in Perth.

He made some bad decisions. We can see that in the retrospectiscope. I agree I had trouble reading it. But yea, respect for trying. He lost a ton of money? Well as long as he can save enough to pay for his kids' education, at least he has a story to tell and they can learn from him.

It's all relative. I can see the bad and see the good. You gotta try, or else you're just gonna die in your cube.

> Well as long as he can save enough to pay for his kids' education, at least he has a story to tell and they can learn from him.

I didn't get the impression that this was the case from the ending.

> I still have an outstanding HST situation, and I face the prospect of personal bankruptcy.

> We can barely afford the place, but I wanted my daughters to have their own rooms—like they did before I sold our house. I may have to moonlight as a bartender to make sure the rent gets paid, but my girls are worth it.

It sounds like he barely has enough money to pretend their status hasn't changed, since that's important to him. I don't want to rag on the guy, but nowhere in this piece does he seem to consider paying for his childrens education as a significant life goal. Playing restaurant seems like it was his dream, not seeing his children grow up successful.

The cost of education in Canada is much lower then the US. My undergrad CS degree (Earned in 2008) cost me <$30,000 CAD for tuition and textbooks. Decent university, no scholarships.

ehh if you're in state no that's not "much" cheaper, but it is like half off. $12935.28 CAD / year for the university I went to, a four year degree would cost $51740 CAD.

A thousand times this.

I think you made a pretty solid decision when you moved from the States to Australia.

> as long as he can save enough to pay for his kids' education

That sounds like a good thing but there's another story on HN where commenters are complaining that it's bad! Rich bankers paying for their kids' education and helping them become rich too. That it's unfair to poor kids. People have such arbitrary and inconsistent opinions. No matter what you do, people are going to believe it's wrong.

Bit dramatic and a false dichotomy. It wasn't like he didn't have other choices.

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