4 Things Politicians Will Never Understand About Poor People

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AngelRho, I don't understand your rationale here. How is it logically possible to worry about "stop making mistakes" but not worry about not getting it right? I do not follow.


What do you mean you don't believe in failure? The concept of failure exists. How would it be possible not to believe in failure when Thomas Edison failed many times to make his light bulb?

Are you talking about not dwelling on failure? How is it possible not to dwell on failure if one is concentrating on stopping mistakes? Again, I do not follow.

You're right...one DOES have to understand the underlying system. That's not what I'm talking about.

What I'm talking about is the tendency some have to acquire a skill set--for me that's music and outlying music-related areas, for you it's programming, etc.--and then whine and complain because other people get rewarded for the same skills while they don't because they're too busy feeling sorry for themselves and blame shifting. I can't tell you HOW to do your job. It's up to you to work with people who can teach you a trade or to read a book/google/wikipedia/whatever, get the practice in to acquire the required skills, and then set up shop in whatever sense works best for what you do.

I'm not talking about the what and how. That's your business. I do the music thing, so if you want to know how to do what I do, you'd come to me and I'd teach you that. I can tell you what I know about the music industry and how to get started. What I can NOT do is hold your hand every step of the way to get gigs, write the songs, pitch to execs, break into music licensing without getting screwed, apply for college, or pass all your exams once you get into music school. And I'm NOT going to feel sorry for you or listen to you cry about not getting that one breakout gig you needed or that scholarship to Juilliard because you didn't make phone calls or meet deadlines.

As a general rule, and I don't care what business you're in, if you don't work, you don't reap the rewards. And if you're busy whining about how someone you hate broke all the rules and got a promotion you should have gotten, you're certainly not going to get the big promotion or big break, either. If cheaters are allowed to win in the big, bad, "real world," they'll burn out really fast, get fired, or the company that turns a blind eye to that sort of thing isn't the kind of company a decent, honest person should be working for, anyway. If you've gone as far as you can with a company, it's time to move on where you can grow.

Or if you start your own business and it's not going anywhere, either figure out how to create demand for yourself or relocate to where there is a demand. Be flexible enough that if nobody needs you for what you want to do, at least you have SOMETHING to offer. Diversify your holdings as they say in the investment world. I just mean be creative and don't be so willing to give up. The more time spent complaining about it is the less time spent being productive.

Anyone can "get it right" at least once with multiple attempts. In a public, musical performance, you only get one attempt. If your practice goal is not to "get it right" once out of several attempts but rather to stop making mistakes, eventually every attempt will be flawless. That's how I gauge a student's performance readiness.



Failures are successes. They help you understand what is working and what needs improvement. Edison was persistent enough to try to understand what went wrong in order to prevent it from happening again, and did that as many times as it took. Edison ultimately succeeded with the light bulb, right? How was the light bulb a failure?


Because the goal is not to fail, but to succeed.

AngelRho, am I approaching things in the wrong way based upon the questions I have asked? If I am will you please tell me where my rationale has veered off course if you do not mind?

Here is the thing. In a discussion or challenge one has to be willing to entertain that his own beliefs, thoughts, and premises may be erroneous. The stuff I may be writing thus far may be based upon faulty reasoning I have.

My real issues with society did not start to occur until I graduated college. What I desire is to know where I zigged when I should've zagged? By my asking questions I can correct my own thinking. xenon13 claims a Nariu conspiracy and it could be that as well. I do not know. To me, the evidence for conspiracies like this seems flimsy.

As a metaphor, If something is my fault or I am guilty of something then I desire to know the charge against me and why the charge has been brought forth so either I can plead guilty and hold myself accountable to it or refute the charge.

Forgive me, but Aspie that I am, I can't figure out if you're being sarcastic, or serious.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I am serious. He is part of the personal responsibility crowd. I have put forth posts including this one presenting my logic against certain American beliefs. I would love for him and others with his beliefs to show me why they're right and why they're wrong in what I say.

While I had taken a certain masochistic liking to that boy, I found very little of what he said particularly sensible.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdZp5iw-UEo[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEWcTEfFurA[/youtube]

That was part of his charm.

By the way, music is fun, but, as far as I can tell, a tough way to make a living. At least in the USA. Prior to Obamacare, lots of musicians got by without health insurance. Which is okay, until you get sick.

We don't have a household income high enough to even be able to afford health insurance. There are programs out there for our children, obviously. But as for me, I get 4 or 5 colds every year, at least one being a severe one and possibly the flu (which I seem to tolerate well if that's the case, but I've never known for certain that I had it). When I run out of pseudo, I'll go to the doc for a prescrip. When I get my next cold around three months later, I'll go again. By that point I'll have enough to get me through the next 4 or 5 years. That's after spending, conservatively, less than $200 for two doctor visits plus the cost of legit pseudo. Remind me, how much are insurance premiums a month? Pretty much any extra expense is a hardship on us. Our insurance policy? Simple: Don't Get Sick. We'll hit the emergency room if someone's dying or having a baby, and that's about it.

And yes, it's a tough way to make a living. Like I've said many a time, the way to build income in something as insane as the music world is to be versatile, never stop learning, and never stop working. Anybody can make it in music. It's just that music is not a field in which you have people coaching you every step of the way on the road to success. What success is, of course, depends on the musician's goals as an individual. Success for me is defined by how well I taught my students, getting repeat gigs, or getting through a worship service confidently without doing anything inappropriate--and in the area of church music there are also spiritual considerations. Besides, I think musicians should focus first on making music and only then on the money. You don't get paid if you aren't any good...or if you do, it's less likely you'll be asked back for a repeat performance.

I admire a man dedicated to his art. As a writer, I (and my family) live in genteel poverty. Was choosing the arts a bright idea for a life on my part? Well, the fat lady hasn't sung yet. I've lost a close friend who decided to hold my decision to follow my dream against me. Oh, well, the late poet and author Charles Bukowski warned all us who aspire to succeed in the arts to expect people to give up on us. But he also said, when you succeed, "you are one with the gods."

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Politicians UNDERSTAND people way more than us.

In fact, it's often much easier for anyone to understand others than themselves. More objective. Less kama (desires)

Politicians may not often know the plight of the poor, but they certainly know how to get their vote.