Why should I be expected to share the rewards of success that only came through hard work and determination with people who have never worked a day in their lives just because they don't want to and don't have to?
This question predisposes four big conservative myths that have no bases in reality. The first myth is that successful individuals achieve success all by themselves, without help from others. Second, only successful people are hard working. Third, the marginal members of our society have never worked. And the final myth is, everyone who doesn't achieve success is lazy. All of these myths are just that, myths. Addressing the first myth, the truth lies in the fact that all successful people have help and guidance from other human beings, be it their family, friends, the government, or even total strangers. According to Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, "You must have the advantage of the experience, education, native ability and imagination of other minds. This is in harmony with the methods followed by every person who has accumulated a great fortune." What Hill fails to point out that this type of behavior can and does apply to quests other than money. Everyone has received help from their parents or their guardians in the beginning of their life in the way of food, clothing, shelter, moral guidance, education, and etc. Everyone has received help from their friends in times of crisis. Even if you think you had the worst parents and friends in the world, you can always use them as a bad examples. If your parents never gave of themselves, make it your business to give and remember, "giving" does not mean you are sacrificing or being deprived of something. Many of us have received help in your time of need from a total stranger. My point, no one achieves success or greatness without the help of other human beings. Second, the reality is not all successful people are hard working. For example, record promoters, insurance agents, stock holders, people who sell cars, and alike are not hard working. They just live of the labor off others, just like a leech that sucks the blood out of its host. Some people who are perceived as "successful people" are not hard working, take for example that many of the billionaires in the world inherited their money from their family. Third, marginal members of our society have worked. Why do you think they call the unemployed 'unemployed'? The only people who can afford not to work are rich? As to the four myth, just because you haven't achieved success does not mean your lazy. The history of the modern world is filled with accounts of companies who were destroyed by their competition, fairly or unfairly. Did the company that failed to survive work any harder then the company that succeeded? No. The company that succeed had a better gimmick, better product, or better lawyers then the company that failed. As for "Why should I be expected to share the rewards of success," read the first paragraph of Q&A-01. |