Originally Posted by McBTC

Very Obamian but doesn't explain why a young paperboy in the olden days got out of bed on a cold Sunday morning while other kids slept to assemble and deliver a sheaf of newsprint (amazingly huge by today's standards) to neighbors' front porches.

Originally Posted by McBTC

Aside from the fact that I am skeptical of the research (see John Iaonnidis on the subject of why medical research findings are bogus --e.g., as reported by David Freedman in the Atlantic) the negative connotations I infer from your "charged insult" comment are all yours not mine.

Dr. John Ioannidis Exposes the Bad Science of Colleagues - The Atlantic

Originally Posted by cooker

Who owns the shack?

Originally Posted by McBTC

Very Obamian but doesn't explain why a young paperboy in the olden days got out of bed on a cold Sunday morning while other kids slept to assemble and deliver a sheaf of newsprint (amazingly huge by today's standards) to neighbors' front porches.

Originally Posted by treadtread

I don't understand the political reference, nor the reference to the paperboy story. Life isn't fair, and I don't think anyone is trying to say that it is. But sneering at those less fortunate and thinking yourselves to be superior in terms of making life choices is too naive - there are many reasons why someone can end up homeless and poor, and not all reasons can be controlled.

.. unless I misunderstood what you were trying to say.

Originally Posted by Dave Cutter

The chicken or the egg?

My limited experience has shown me the alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness, and mental illnesses are almost synonymous. Researchers may someday determine which came first. But for all practical purposes.... it really doesn't matter.

Originally Posted by treadtread

I don't understand the political reference, nor the reference to the paperboy story. Life isn't fair, and I don't think anyone is trying to say that it is. But sneering at those less fortunate and thinking yourselves to be superior in terms of making life choices is too naive - there are many reasons why someone can end up homeless and poor, and not all reasons can be controlled.

.. unless I misunderstood what you were trying to say.

Originally Posted by jfowler85

I speak from two perspectives, neither of which are guilt. Statistically, and this has been sussed out by many academics, a person born into affluence stands a greater chance of achieving socioeconomic success relative to someone born into poverty. I would imagine that, like many other things in the natural world, the distribution is bell curve. I.e., there exist those born into poverty which make it with or without outside help. This is certainly the land of opportunity, but as stated those with the best chances are those born into that opportunity. This is why professional schools (med, law, etc) as well as the FAFSA (federal financial aid) ask for ethnicity and family educational level. A med student who is also a first-gen college grad has statistically overcome greater hardship than the child of 4th generation doctors.

Originally Posted by McBTC

Of course, he was misunderstood.

Originally Posted by McBTC

You pretty much learn everything you need to know about why some gush compassion when it comes to their new age views about homelessness when you read Robert Fulghum's book, "It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It." Fulghum's first book was, "Everything I Need To Know I Learn in Kindergarten." For many in our culture, personal responsibility is an abstract concept that has no practical meaning in the modern world: it's practically a “recognizable psychiatric phenomenon,” when even commercials now mock the view that everyone is a winner and that nothing anyone does or failed to do should be seen as raises or diminishes their likelihood of success.

Originally Posted by jon c.

Willfully.

Originally Posted by sci_femme

To @Sullalto, @cooker, @jfowler85 et al. - I was not born in an affluent family, my parents were loving in their own way but not highly educated, and I am not particularly healthy either. Heck, I was not even born in North America. Even our plane tickets were purchased with a personal loan from friends to friends. So my guy and me started with a clean slate and negative balance. As cliche as it is, this is America, the land of opportunity!

Having observed during first half of my life how state and government crushes every attempt at bettering oneself beyond what is deemed necessary for the said state (as in no day college admissions for anyone over 35); destroys business initiative for anyone not in cahoots with bureaucrats on every level, from little village all the way to the top; plugs miscalculations in foreign policy with dead conscripted teenagers' bodies (@Reynolds is old enough to remember which local conflict I am referring to) - I was amazed to which extent an individual here is the master of his/her destiny. Choices at every turn - to take advantage from the situation or flush it down the toilet. Even events outside of individual's control can be dealt with appropriate help, that's why I mentioned speaking to a social worker. Asking for help does not diminish one's worth, quite the opposite - it demonstrates willingness to take control of the situation.

But I guess I struck a nerve speaking against accepted views, especially as lone chick who dared to do it at the stag-fest.

@jfowler85 - I feel I can have an intelligent discourse with you about middle-class guilt.

Ride Safe

SF