The arrogance of success

I read the comments to so many articles and there is such a disdain for poor people, or people who have fallen on hard times and find themselves and their children homeless or hungry. "If they weren't so lazy they'd get a job; if they hadn't bought more house than they could afford, they'd be okay; if they didn't spend so much they'd have money; its their fault they don't have more, aren't better parents, don't become rich." I wonder if people ever wonder if they are here in good or okay shape because they have just been lucky. They may have a supportive family, a good education, health, community to help them through these hard times. They aren't depressed because they've been laid off or have cancer or are losing their home.

And yet, a significant minority of people on these comment boards have an air of self-righteousness that I don't understand. Walk in the shoes of the people who are not succeeding in life before you declare they are no good or don't deserve better. Think about how it would feel to have been born in Somalia, or Peru, or Yemen. Do you think you would have been as successful as you are now? Do you really think its all because you are so special and so talented that you are surviving without help from government or other sources of support. Do you really think most millionaires or even hundred thousandaires are that way because they just worked harder than the rest? I don't. I think most of us were just lucky, either in birth, genetics, education, breaks along the way, or the right contacts. I think the people who are not succeeding, for the most part, aren't for the very same reasons. Would help along the way change it for them, perhaps, perhaps not, but don't all people deserve a roof over their head, food in their stomachs, and some path to a better future. Why assume you know they are worthless because of where they are and that they don't deserve anything because of that.

Let's try compassionate goverment for a change and just see what happens. We need a smaller gap between rich and the rest of us. We need to spend some tax money on jobs, health care, schools, infrastructure, green industry, and to get us out of this financial hole we are in. Lets just pay our share and hope it makes a better country, instead of worrying about someone getting something they don't deserve.