Comment by mcherm | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mcherm | Hacker News Reader

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I don't want to talk you out of opposition to the Democratic party or to vilification of ANYONE, including the wealthy. But I DO have a perspective you might be missing:

You write: > As someone who [...] worked their ass off to become a 1%er [...] I worked and studied when my classmates or coworkers were partying, made good choices, and now I enjoy a nice life because of it.

I, like you, work fairly hard and have become quite well-compensated. What I'd like to point out is that there are probably two categories of folks who are NOT "1%ers". There are those who were "partying" and making poor choices and therefore have a lower income. But there are also those who worked VERY hard but never had the opportunity to be rewarded for that work.

It is easy for me to feel entitled about my distinguished-software-engineer-level income if I think only of the first group, but if I compare myself to the second group I have to remember that many of them never had the chance to go to college, never had the opportunities I had and aren't in any way "undeserving". You probably already know everything I am saying here, but I wanted to share that this perspective is one I keep in mind when making statements so I don't come out sounding unreasonably entitled.

I’m retired now after a pretty middle class career, and am well aware of how much of my success was essentially luck. I have a reasonably high IQ (not my doing), was born into a family that, while poor, instilled middle class values (again not my doing), was born with a skin color that matched the majority (do I need I to keep saying not my doing?) I lucked into a career which suited me, in an economy that worked very differently than it does now. And I was lucky enough not to have any major health problems during all of this.

A lot of people seem to think of themselves as self-made, without realizing the number of folks who worked just as hard as they think they did without seeing anywhere near the same success.

Maybe something will happen at some point to make them open their eyes, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

I worked in factories, I worked minimum wage jobs, I paid for my own college through scholarships and part-time jobs. I came from a lower-middle class background, and we never went on trips and we never ate out. KFC was considered a special treat. I manufactured my entire career and where I am in life, the fact that there are some people who weren't able to match me is orthogonal to any of that and I won't feel guilty about it. I don't look down on them one bit, life is tough and unfair, but I also won't feel guilty or self-flagellate myself because I worked hard and took advantage of whatever opportunities I either got or created for myself.

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