I lucked out having the Soviet Union collapse and flood the market with physicists when I was looking.
No wait. Thats sort of the opposite of luck.
[edit] School was unaffordable for me at any of the 10 places that accepted me and offered me scholarships. I still had to come up with money I didn't have, and couldn't get. I suppose that is luck too? No, I had to work off campus in undergrad as well to pay for food/board/etc in addition to school.
I turned a crappy situation for myself and my family into a positive outcome, only by giving up my chosen career path, and pursuing industry, in a field outside of my studies.
Really lucked out there. No ... I guess I didn't.
Seriously, hard work, being smart enough to recognize what was going on around me, remaining calm during an incredibly stressful multi-year situation, and managing the processes through to a successful outcome. That is not privilege, and anyone making the claim that somehow being able to make lemonade out of the lemons that your "privileged" life dealt you ... yeah. About that.
You play the hand you are dealt. You play it hard. You play it smart. You know the house always wins. You know you really shouldn't swing for the fences. Insert any other cliche you want here.
But you accept that the hand you are dealt is what you have to deal with. You do not feel sorry for yourself for being born into poverty or money. You simply bust your butt. And play that hand hard. You have no choice.
So you discuss that a lot of people were luckier than you, which I have no doubt is true. But you don't discuss all the people even less lucky. A number that runs in the billions.
That's the empathy and perspective that talk of "privilege" is asking for. Don't feel guilty, just keep that in mind when judging others or discussing policy.
Did you got to a public or private university? In either case, society helped a great deal towards what you obtained.
Here’s a good Obama quote:
> Our higher education system is one of the things that makes America exceptional. There's no place else that has the assets we do when it comes to higher education. People from all over the world aspire to come here and study here. And that is a good thing.
Or this:
> Now, as a nation, we don't promise equal outcomes, but we were founded on the idea everybody should have an equal opportunity to succeed. No matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, you can make it. That's an essential promise of America. Where you start should not determine where you end up.
One look out the window at a landscaper with brown skin should disabuse anyone that that works in an air conditioned office that luck isn’t a huge factor in success.
I worked on a farm, construction, worked in lumber mill, and had jobs through school as well but I have no doubt that I won the “ovarian lottery”. As a side effect, I’m not in a hurry to “pull the ladder up behind me” because my hard work somehow makes me more worthy than all the other people who worked even harder but weren’t as lucky.
No wait. Thats sort of the opposite of luck.
[edit] School was unaffordable for me at any of the 10 places that accepted me and offered me scholarships. I still had to come up with money I didn't have, and couldn't get. I suppose that is luck too? No, I had to work off campus in undergrad as well to pay for food/board/etc in addition to school.
I turned a crappy situation for myself and my family into a positive outcome, only by giving up my chosen career path, and pursuing industry, in a field outside of my studies.
Really lucked out there. No ... I guess I didn't.
Seriously, hard work, being smart enough to recognize what was going on around me, remaining calm during an incredibly stressful multi-year situation, and managing the processes through to a successful outcome. That is not privilege, and anyone making the claim that somehow being able to make lemonade out of the lemons that your "privileged" life dealt you ... yeah. About that.
You play the hand you are dealt. You play it hard. You play it smart. You know the house always wins. You know you really shouldn't swing for the fences. Insert any other cliche you want here.
But you accept that the hand you are dealt is what you have to deal with. You do not feel sorry for yourself for being born into poverty or money. You simply bust your butt. And play that hand hard. You have no choice.