Above or below the Wealth Median

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what is the person's motivational energy or wherewithal is insufficient to match the need of the task at hand? what is the book marked "success" is simply out of reach of one's best efforts?

If you have done the best that you can, to my mind, that is never a failure whatever the outcome. Doing your best is always an achievement to be admired.

^^^^
that reminds me of an old song, "they can't take that away from me."

Then the person has to make peace with the idea that they can't reach something that they want, even if they tried their hardest. But the way to do that is not to tell others that what others worked hard for and perhaps harder than the person has worked was due mostly to luck.

An eggsample is that I don't have the genes and physical talent to be a good athlete, not even to play on a high school team when I was in high school. I could work my hardest, and be the most motivated, and I may still fail to make the team or be a regular player. But when I see people who are good athletes, I don't think that they are good because they are just lucky. I think that they are good because they work really hard, which most of them do, getting up in early mornings to do laps in the pool takes so much discipline in my view. Also managing school and athletics at the same time is really hard. Of course they also had better genes in this area and more talent than me, but I attribute their success to that plus lots of their own motivation, hard work, getting through difficulties and disappointments, etc.

I have a close friend, now retired, who has had a long career as a trial lawyer. When he began (in the late 1950s), he mainly defended people accused of murder, and New Zealand still had capital punishment then (abolished for good in the early 1960s). Despite his best defence efforts, some people were convicted and executed by hanging. I knew that my friend was a highly sensitive as well as a highly clever person and asked him how he managed to deal with the outcome when there were convictions.

He said that the as long as he knew that he had done his best and had done everything that could have been done, he could accept these outcomes. It came down to that and only that in the end.

I remembered this, because I realised that it had a much wider applicability to other kinds of 'failure'. Our ideas of success and failure are based on competition and are therefore socially constructed definitions; there are other ways to define success, though cultures which worship indiviualism particularly promote the narrowest meanings, assigning only the winner the accolade of success.

I think, for example, that everyone who enters a marathon and finishes it, no matter how long it takes, is a success. Individualism defines success as the winner only.

and for that reason I believe the American culture of rampant individualism to be especially toxic in this regard.

I'm pretty sure that most americans consider finishing a marathon to be quite an accomplishment, even if you finished last.

I am fortunate, to have experienced life above and below the wealth median. I dont believe that I could truly understand either, if I had not experienced both ends of the scale.

That's also true for me.

me 3

I don't really focus on them either, but I cannot ignore the issues of wealth inequality and problems it causes/contributes to or tension due to class division and pretend like everything is all peachy in that regard as it is not. I also have concerns how much the very wealthy and corporate 'elite' or whatever the f*** influence the government and see that as problematic since the government's job is to serve the people not the highest bidder so to speak. As of now yes I am making due, can even afford to move out since I have found other people to room with...and I have a few things like a t.v, laptop, PS3 which provide ongoing entertainment of course but costs of living can rise, getting a place with other people may fall through or end up not working out, my mom could be moving quite far in the next 5 or so years so I cannot indefinitely expect her house to be available to stay at with in the same area when I don't have another place to stay. So though right now I'd say I am fairly 'comfortable' its just barely, and I am stuck kind of depending on people and situations that aren't the most stable to depend on....which I don't like but I don't have a ton of choice. Then there is stigma...I mean I am even worried about putting my name on the lease for moving out because of my disability income not sure if that would be a negative factor hopefully though that will all work out ok but also the constant worry that 'what you do for a living' will come up and you may be judged quite harshly for not working or being in school because 'you're not in a wheelchair'. I imagine the stigma might not be an issue if there where not as much issues with wealth inequality and class division that's why I even brought it up I...I don't constantly think about people wealthier than me and what they have that I don't and seethe in bitterness, that certainly wouldn't do me or anyone else any good. I try to see the best in my situation, even if it is very difficult at times.