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Comment by spiderfarmer | Hacker News Reader

The American Dream has been replaced by perseverance porn: the only way to succeed is through hardship and the people who fail are losers.

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I'm a millennial, I have never been drafted to fight in any war, I did not spend my childhood or early teens working on a farm, I was educated by a public school system, I have enough disposable income to have a computer, iPhone, and internet connection through which I can learn anything, I live in a safe community, people of all colors and religious beliefs are willing to do business with me.

In history there might be one maybe two generations that have had less hardship than mine, every other generation ever has had more hardship.

You sound like someone who is looking at your opportunity rather than trying to find reasons you can't succeed. :)

It is easy to complain about how hard life is, but I really don't think most people would be willing to trade it for some other time in the past--no matter how bad they like to think things are today. It is surprisingly inexpensive to live like people lived in the 1950s when TV, air conditioning, and even indoor plumbing weren't things you'd assume you had to have.

I'm wondering if success has ever not come through hardship. It certainly came through hardship in the past. Today seems little different.

Note: 80% of millionaires are first-generation rich - they started off with little, and made their own fortune.

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