Social climbing
I've always been a fan of Honda. I had a cute little zippy Honda Acord hatchback in college that I simply loved. It was perfect. Sexy, compact, dependable. Loved it.
But the other day I started to change my mind about this well-respected company. They have a commercial out now for their Certified Used cars that says something like, "Where you start out in life is a pretty good indication of where you'll end up."
Hogwash.
How un-American! How classist!
Ok, fine. I'll admit that sometimes (frequently?) where you start out in life is a good indication of where you'll end up, but what about the American dream? What about bettering yourself? Giving your children more than you had?
L is an excellent example of where you come from being no indication whatsoever of where you'll end up. I, on the other hand, am pretty much where I started.
How about you? Is where you come from a good indication of where you'll end up?
7 Comments:
Well, if it is, i'm good. I came from a working class family with good strong values and a belief that you are always there for each other. If that's where I end up, i'll be more then happy.
I hope not!! If I end up where I started you will be able to catch me on the Jerry Springer show.
No way. I'm so much further ahead but it's taken a lot of hard work and sacrifice.
Neither of my parents ever went to college. I'm the first kid in my family to do so. I'm still one of the few with a degree. But, my dad was a successful small business owner (albeit, blue collar). I doubt I'll ever make as much money as he did, even with a degree. So am I ahead? Or behind? He wanted us to be educated, though, so we wouldn't have to work as hard as he did. OF course, they'd have preferred me to be a doctor or attorney or accountant.
ha! I was just going to put I hope not. We were dirt poor.
I still have my midwestern values and southern training socially...but I hope I've progressed from where I started cause it's nothing I wish to repeat.
I think it might be better said: Where you start out in life is a pretty good indication of where you are likely to end up, provided everything else remains the same.
It is completely true that everyone starts out in life with a different set of resources at their disposal, some sets more limiting than others. And it is completely true that, if things were just to continue precisely at the status quo for the duration of your life, your circumstances are virtually guaranteed to remain the same...
But it is also true that life just isn't like that. There are people born with nothing who possess such drive and energy that they rise far above their starting position. There are people born with every privilege who, for one reason or another, lose it all. And that's not counting the vagaries and random chances of a quirky and chaotic universe.
Of course, all that said...the truest measure (I think) of whether you are now what you were when you began is to look for changes in yourself, not your circumstances. It's a rare person who doesn't end up somewhere different from where they started in that regard.
(er, yes, as a matter of fact I DO think too much...)
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