|
I am dismayed by the lack of understanding of the role of luck displayed at times in this thread. I am all for celebrating and rewarding hard work. There are certainly enough people around who expect to get something for nothing. I am also not a fan of the idea that you have to live life in a state of perpetual gratitude for things that go well for you that arise from luck. In my opinion, too much gratitude means a lack of progress. Like, if the person who invented the flushing toilet was all, 'well I suppose we should just be grateful we have a toilet at all!' instead of 'you know what, this nonflushing sewer pit is not really good enough' then it wouldn't have been invented. But admitting to and acknowledging the role of luck in our opportunities, and the fact that it is luck, and not being less deserving for the lack of opportunities for many others in the world, does not mean ignoring hard work or being disproportionately grateful or guilty.
We have so many things simply by virtue of being born in the countries we are in. To live in a country with free and high quality education is lucky. To have free health care is lucky. To have welfare available for those who need it is lucky. To be free from discrimination is lucky. To be in a country free from war or civil unrest is lucky. To have treated water and hygienic sewerage systems and affordable power is lucky. All these things provide opportunities for our hard work to make us rich and successful. Without hard work of course, we may still be poor and unfortunate. But without all these things that are available for us purely through luck that we were born in these countries rather than countries without these opportunities, then our hard work would not accrue anything like the wealth and success available for us. It is of course not lucky that these things came about in the first place. It was the hard work and compassion and insight of many people in the past who achieved these things for our countries that have them. But we who are enjoying them now had nothing to do with achieving them. Yet we were lucky enough to be born in these countries such that we can reap the benefits from them.
Similarly we are lucky to be born with certain talents and abilities. We may be gifted academically or musically or athletically. Whether you believe these are god-given gifts or the simple chance of genetics the result is the same. The luck of being born with those abilities means our hard work results in more than those who were not as lucky to have that degree of talent or ability. Just having the talent means little without hard work, but hard work without the lucky talent isn't much good either. Being born free from disabilities is lucky too, as is not getting illnesses later in life (that are not caused by lifestyle factors). It was suggested to my mother when she was pregnant with me that she could take thalydimide. Through luck, because it was nothing to do with me, she didn't and I avoided the disabilities of other unlucky thalydimide babies.
Again, the point is not that we should feel constant gratitude for the ways that we are lucky. Some people here have more or less of these things that we are lucky for but everyone here has some (or most) of them. Nor should we feel guilty for the opportunities we are lucky enough to have. But it is sometimes tempting to think that we have money or nice things simply because we worked hard for them, and therefore those in our country or other countries who don't have as much must be poorer because they didn't work as hard as us. But a hard day's work for someone in some African countries might be walking all day to get the only treated water in the area. I don't deserve the opportunities that I was born with any more than anyone else. So when I take advantage of the opportunities and work hard to achieve, then it is my responsibility to acknowledge those less fortunate - those who, but for the simple case of luck, I could be.
__________________
|