3.01.2010

"The rich man celebrates his ability; the poor man laments his circumstance. Each deludes himself."
-Charlie McDanger's page-a-day calendar

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

that's actually rather not bad. not *precisely* right, mind, but not bad. there ARE circumstances in which a man can never escape being poor. being born into a lowly caste in india *and inheriting 3 generations of debt*, or something similar, pretty much guarantees a life of poverty.

as far as the 'ability' thing goes, though, that's - on further reflection - probably more wrong than right. look at SEALS and deltas; look at how poor unknown hicks from the sticks like jay gould and warren buffet ended up *dominating* their eras on wall street; look at how a fairly slow, fairly short, *undrafted* white guy, wes welker, ended up being an all-pro receiver this year. beating out all the highly-drafted 6'5" 4.4 40 studs who turned out to be not half as good as him *once the game starts.*

luck? sure, only a fool would deny luck plays a part in just about all aspects of life. but men like that are able largely because they THINK they are able. good things - wealth included - often follows that belief.

Zeke said...

Points taken, but I think the quote holds up. It's a comment on the self-serving amplification of one factor over the other--surely you've witnessed this plenty.

Nailed it!

July 5 :