I hate when people say “I am blessed, fortunate for the life I’ve been given.” Oh really?
First of all, unless you’re a government hack, you weren’t given anything. Secondly, why do people like to compare their lives to the lowest form of sub-human, the homeless class or welfare recipient? Just because your stupid life is marginally better than the guy groveling for spare change down the block–that doesn’t mean you should feel grateful, as if you somehow dodged the homeless man bullet by a thread.
You get what you put in.
Why not compare your lives to those who travel in Bentleys, living in the Gretzky house, hiring personal assistants off of Craigslist and demanding blow jobs in exchange for working for free? (extra Dykstra)
I never feel grateful for anything because everything I have was earned. Nothing was given to me, or inherited, which, by the way, is perfectly fine. I have nothing against inheritance. As a matter of fact, I believe a good family is one that passes wealth on from generation to generation–just like any well to do institution. I’m not belonging to the selfish “me camp” who endeavor to die poor, so that they can live a rich, full, hedonistic life.
Too many get caught up in the frisson of life, wanting to live to the fullest, do as many lines of blow as humanly possible before it all ends. How short sighted. Do you want your life to be defined as something that came and went, like the summer breeze by the shore in 2004, or something that established a foundation that can last for many decades, maybe even centuries, after your untimely demise?
By no means am I an authority on how to become successful, as I am still trying to make my mark. However, I think my perspective is correct– in that I am always looking up, never staring at the toothless vagrant dressed in a burlap blouse and trousers stained with fecal matter–feeling “fortunate” for not having to share a cardboard box with him outside of Madison Square Garden.
To hell with that guy. I’d rather stab him in his rakish eye socket, than ever feel commonality with his most unfortunate predicament.
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…no Walking Dead.
Well said
Mr Fly,
You seem to be a hybrid, Mother Theresa or Ghandi I can’t decide.
Hear! Hear!
While I respect your accomplishments in life, you were born into a position where it was possible for you. For that you are fortunate. You have moved on up from there by hard work and wits. Many do much worse with their lot. You could have been born in Africa, or China, or even in worse places in America. There is always something for which to be grateful.
Agreed.
I cannot be grateful for being born in America. My family is American, so therefore, it is my birthright.
Very uplifting read this morning.
Preach on!
Amen Brother Fly,
I anxiously await meeting you face to
face. We will have enternity to become fast friends.
Sincerely,
Satan
There is no such thing as Satan, only man, you child.
Fly,
You’re agnosticism must be a source
of comfort for you. Through enternity
I have always enjoyed the moment
when I come for a poor soul, and realization of my existance becomes crystal clear to him. Its priceless. See you soon.
Your Child,
Satan
Banned
The “Real Beelzebub” would know the definition of agnostic. You, Sir, are a fake.
People who think they are going to live forever have never thought about just how long a time forever actually is.
yeah its kinda harsh, but I agree.
however, I go out of my way to volunteer with kids in group homes, just because i enjoy it. I don’t care so much for grown hobos, get to them when they r young.
There is nothing wrong with being charitable. People who are successful have a responsibility to try to help others, for the betterment of society.
Is it not far more enjoyable to savor a bite of a chocolate truffle than to stuff your face and be angry that it was not better?
As for luck, anyone born after the year say 1900 was fortunate. If not for all the people before them that constructed the advanced forms of communication and transportation, they would have no ability to drive any vehicle and would have to walk or bike to school where some pilgrim teacher would whoop their behind if they were late and put a dunce cap on them if they made a mistake.
Striving for a better life is still good, but life is nothing but a journey, and if you don’t learn to enjoy the journey your better off dead. Society may not be better off, but without some sort of sense of satisfaction and gratitude, what good are the finer things in life?
The optimist wins because he will always try again until he succeeds and enjoy every failure as well as every success on his way to ultimate achievement. Of course the optomist must have the drive and passion as well, or else he is but merely a delusional with no real strive for accomplishment.
But lying on your deathbed, are you going to really care about your level of “status” or some concept based upon what other people think, or are you going to wish you laughed and loved and enjoyed life more?
Is it going to really matter if you have a large skyscraper with your name on it but you were working so hard you never really had a chance to appreciate it? Of what satisfaction do you gain By constantly climbing and never looking back to see how far you’ve come?
there is nothing wrong with seeking greatness in it’s own accord as something you wish to personally express, but why bother comparing yourself to others at all?
I believe life is about building a legacy that can be continued by offsprings.
Well-said, Fly.
Contrary to “winning ovarian lotteries” (no Buffett), we are a random lump of cells and it’s what we do during the time those cells are alive that matters.
If I could ask your valued opinion, though, as someone who’s successful in the stock market, would you still be a broker (or in another financial sales role) if you were starting out today? Or even go into finance at all, since the opportunities seem to be dwindling?
I often think about that.
I would most likely study to be an analyst, then move over to portfolio manager.
Thank you for replying. So just skip sales and start on the buyside? What about a soft-sales role in RFP writing or such at a mut. fund/pension/consultant
You’re a literate man so I know you are familiar with this poem by Shelley:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away”.
So good luck with that striving for some kind of immortality.
IMHO the focus in life is finding your Passion and following it where ever it leads. If your passion is working with the poor, then I say go for it…St Francis of Assisi had pure bliss cuz that is what his passion was. If your passion is taking crack, well you end up on the street, but you are happy. Building a future for your kids,like Fly, can be a passion too. I believe each of us must listen to ourselves and not compare ourselves to other people on their life journey…except to take joy in their love of their passion. FWIW, the greatest loss a human can have is to live a life without any passion..but that is just me…
Fly, your position is underpinned with a belief that you are self-made, and that any circumstances you were born into simply are the way things are.
Talents, circumstances, relationships, and other “raw materials” that we have to work with, in my view, are a gift. We are not owed them, and they are not a right. They are a blessing, in that without them, we would not even be able to achieve the position of prosperity we attain.
If one believes that they are owed those blessings (even upon “earning” them), that they are a RIGHT, then they are thinking in terms of entitlement. Appreciation for what we have is gratitude. My life is a blessing.
I agree to a point, yet there is not a single circumstance in life that has not been overcome to produce some level of success. There is no level of poverty that some rich person out there hasn’t had worse at some point in his life and overcome. There is no physical limitation that has held back a 90+ yr old from climbing Mount Everest or Colonel Sanders was never too old to get started in business.
If Fly was born in less fortunate circumstances, say India what’s to say he would not have carved out merely a different path to where he is now? Do you believe that there haven’t been people in India as broke as anyone that have eventually found a way to tremendous success? Even the least fortunate among us have found a way to be successful, it isn’t just “luck”. And there are plenty of fortunate people to inherit everything they could possibly want and blow it all. as well.
I believe in being grateful for what you have, but that doesn’t mean you have to take complete comfort in it.
To your point there is merit in maximizing your opportunities and making the most of your lot in life. We have freedom to choose how we use our time, mental energy, focus, and resources. How we spend life is determined by us and is our personal freedom. We are responsible for how we choose to live, not to mention, accountable. As Fly said, we can spend our life snorting blow or pursuing things we consider to be greater ends.
My original post was in response to what I believe is an “entitlement” mentality. The most successful people I know who have a lasting impact have a deep gratitude, and they certainly don’t bogard personal credit.
Excellent points, I tend to agree about gratitude.
The subconscious directs you towards pleasure and away from pain.
With that being said, it certainly cannot hurt to occasionally find that level of gratefulness and gratitude for your accomplishment to direct the mind to seek out more and greater accomplishments and seek to also maintain your previous accomplishments.
Unless of course being grateful causes you to get too comfortable resting on your laurels and prevents you from striving to create a better life and greater legacy, if that’s your goal.
So Fly’s approach certainly may be what’s best for him, but I don’t think it’s the best approach for everybody.
No time to read any of the above –
just looked at DECK 🙂
The Book of Ecclesiastes has much to say about these kinds of things. Written by the wealthiest man of his day…..makes for interesting reading in regards to topics of this nature.