The 'Success" factor

Each of us comes into the world in basically the same way, but not in the same condition. Some of us are born into families that through a combination of luck, hard work and other factors, can provide the newborn with something close to a guaranteed successful future. Yes, the wealth and privileges can be wasted and/or lost, and we see those examples, but really, the vast majority of people born into wealth go to good schools, get good jobs and manage to pass on to the next generation the advantages they received.

Others enter this world on the opposite end of that spectrum. They are almost predestined to failure, although of course similarly some of them break free of the path they are led down and achieve success, sometimes in spectacular fashion. Once again, we should not forget that this constitutes the exception, not the rule.

Then we have what is often referred to in this country, the middle class. They aspire to improve their station and certainly may have an opportunity to do so in greater numbers than the poor, but they can descend as easily as they can ascend, and the economic problems we face from time to time are most likely to dislodge these people from relative prosperity to near abject poverty.

One of the things we like to consider as an American characteristic is the fact that so many poor immigrants improved their status in this country and oftentimes had second and third generation progeny that clearly entered the great middle class. They of course were able to do so because they had aspirations and access to schools that helped them develop new skills.

There has always been a difference between our poor immigrants and our American poor. You don't emigrate because you have accepted you lot in life. Immigrants are here because they want something better than what they had. They push their children to become someone. Certainly, some of our native born poor also exhibit these characteristics but if you simply consider statistics, the percentage of any population with these aspirations may be a determinable number. Say it is 25% (purely for example purposes). Those born into poverty in this country will have a 25% chance of having the "SUCCESS" characteristic. However almost 100% of voluntary immigrants will have the same characteristic. They wouldn't have emigrated voluntarily without it. This is one of the reasons that the behavior in refugee camps is so diverse from the behavior of immigrant groups.

Of course, just having aspirations does not guarantee success, at least not on the first try (see the number of small businesses that fail) but trying is much more likely to result in success than not trying. Yes, we have some who win the lottery, but of course many of these same people end up losing their winnings rather quickly, but in general trying to succeed if the first requisite to actually succeeding.

Taking care of Humanity

I like to think that all people share a core set of values, the primary one is that we need to take care of our fellow humans. After all, we are all brothers and sisters when you come right down to it. Yes, I understand that in the more immediate period, many of us are trying to better our own individual situation and scarcely think about others. I also understand that a certain percentage of us, either because of an actual mental defect, will never care about anyone but themselves. However, the vast majority will take actions that are in the best interest of all of us.

As you see the natural disasters that seem to be happening more frequently recently, we see a great outpouring of humanity trying to help those immediately impacted. This is one of our greatest qualities and one that is an evolutionary necessity, since none of us could survive on their own.

However, what I don't see are people willing to look at less immediate disasters and focus on our future survival. I don't mean the deficit, because let's get real here, we will find a way to pay it, even if it is via inflation. The ongoing discussion over a economic oddity is hardly the stuff of disasters. However, it does seem clear that we are having an impact on our world that endangers the future well being of our species. What is the saddest part of this is that it is both solvable and reversible. Not easily mind you, but doable.

We emit great amounts of various pollutants into our atmosphere. Ultimately, the atmosphere will adjust, after all every one of these pollutants came from this planet, but these pollutants will impact other areas that may impact us! Now, some will argue that there is doubt about these impacts or that there are other causes for these changes, but the choice isn't about whether we are the only cause of the glaciers melting, but about are we contributing.

Further, it should not be an issue that not spewing noxious gases into the atmosphere is inherently better then spewing those very same gases.

It should also be obvious that there is not going to be a simple magical solution that saves us from the hard work of addressing this problem. Simply put, the more each of us reduces our pollutant contribution, the better the situation is.

Clearly there are big issues such as use of gasoline to fuel our vehicles that probably need to be addressed also. However there is plenty of opportunity for each of us to do something, and I think that has a great potential if we simply take action after action and make choice after choice that improves the situation.

We need to start.