Amazed how people just don’t want to work

[Heisman's Ghost]

We submitted ads through a site that distributes it to like 15 different platforms including google jobs.. and the ads are displayed on all the platforms under the correct categories

Feel your pain. First job I had out of college was teaching history and economics in Griffin in the late 1970s. I got paid $8,000 a year the first year and was glad to have a job. I worked as a pool manager for my parents' country club in the summer to make ends meet for $400 a month. Inflation was raging in double digits at the time so everyone it seemed was broke by the end of the month. I barely saved enough each summer to buy season tickets in the north stands to see the Jackets.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Yeah, my kids too. But their argument, which makes a lot of sense, is that companies used to be more reliable and kept their promises to workers. Now, why be loyal to a company if the company is not going to be loyal to you? My daughter is incredibly hard working, learns new jobs very quickly and gets good recommendations wherever she goes. But whenever she senses bs on the part of management she finds a “higher bidder” for her talents and she is out of there.

Not the way I did it but I sometimes wonder if I was a sucker.

Yes, you were like me. On the other hand, I am fortunate to have retired with a pension with the state of Georgia for 30 plus years in the classroom so there is that. My daughter lives in Decatur and works for an outfit that sells Medicare Advantage plans. She is the executive assistant to the head of sales in Georgia and South Carolina but he lives in New Jersey. I wonder if she should see if she could get a higher paying job now but she seems happy.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

The first line, directed at me.

Atlantic Station is within the City of Atlanta, and Duluth is definitely in one of the top four populous counties in Ga. Do a web engine search, and you will see the state I live in somehow gets away with a 5.15 wage in one place(not a tip job).

You do realize several states have and businesses abide by more than $10 an hour and the $15.00 minimum in NY City? Dishwashers making 17.00, in N.J.

I feel like we are talking past each other. Some point you are trying to make but not related to what I was probably trying to say. The minimum in NYC should be more than $15, that seems comparible to making $2 an hour in very rural areas of the country. NYC is just stupid expensive. just like SF

 

[Buzzbomb]

I feel like we are talking past each other. Some point you are trying to make but not related to what I was probably trying to say. The minimum in NYC should be more than $15, that seems comparible to making $2 an hour in very rural areas of the country. NYC is just stupid expensive. just like SF

No, you aren’t giving credit to the millions that not only survive but thrive in NY City(the 5 Burrough). My nephew works on Wall St., lives in Manhattan. Rent control apartment. Another friend lives in an R.C.Apt. He also pays less than me(I’m in the Sugarloaf area, where we are in a higher rent area for Duluth, Ga.)and as a cashier makes 20 an hour. A cashier in the Gas South Arena, f/k/a Infinite Energy Center, f/f/k/a Duluth Arena, by comparison starts at 7.25 per hour. The $15 minimum drives the wages up. That same friend made $30 an hour before the pandemic. He took this similar position to go full-time and get health insurance too. The Arena jobs have never covered health insurance.
My buddy here in Atlantic Station is surrounded by these minimum wage jobs. His rent is higher than mine. No rent control in Ga. Renters market, right to work State.

 

[Technut1990]

I just hope all the kids have a secure retirement. I worry about it given todays thoughts. I worked 32 years, had my own investment account ( that I managed) and invested in a voluntary 457 with bi weekly contributions, plus my normal retirement. I did so just so I could sit on my butt and respond to Swarm posts and get on y’all’s nerves but also not have to worry about where the money was coming from. Mind you I’m not rich but it did take a frugal mindset. I said “no” to a lot of things that others my age didn’t refuse and I had two part time jobs. I was able to retire early at 55. I use to think that was due to my government job but toward the end I saw the turnover rate in government was higher than ever.

im afraid my kids just won’t even have a basic retirement to get screwed out of if they can’t accept entry level stuff. My son says he will never work a 9-5. If he hits something good his independent streak will serve him well if he doesn't I’m afraid taxpayers will tend to him when he’s old.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

No, you aren’t giving credit to the millions that not only survive but thrive in NY City(the 5 Burrough). My nephew works on Wall St., lives in Manhattan. Rent control apartment. Another friend lives in an R.C.Apt. He also pays less than me(I’m in the Sugarloaf area, where we are in a higher rent area for Duluth, Ga.)and as a cashier makes 20 an hour. A cashier in the Gas South Arena, f/k/a Infinite Energy Center, f/f/k/a Duluth Arena, by comparison starts at 7.25 per hour. The $15 minimum drives the wages up. That same friend made $30 an hour before the pandemic. He took this similar position to go full-time and get health insurance too. The Arena jobs have never covered health insurance.
My buddy here in Atlantic Station is surrounded by these minimum wage jobs. His rent is higher than mine. No rent control in Ga. Renters market, right to work State.

OK, its like you have ideas in your head and interpret what people are saying to conform good/bad to what you believe to be true. Those are all interesting individual instances but are statistically insignificant. Everyone in NYC cannot thrive on $15 an hour, I bet 99% of the world would agree with that statement. Posting an outlier is meaningless and talks past what I was tryng to say.

Sorry I try to never get into debates on the web as they all end up like this so they are pointless. I should not have copied your original post. I should have just posted the relevant information to this thread as there are a lot of people who don't want to work.

I was talking to someone who runs a factory in Ohio. They are having all kinds of problems getting people to show up. So they started throwing money at it. Ohio has assistance (He said $500 a month)
If you work all 5 full shifts in a week they were giving out $100 bonus per week. Well what happened is at the end of the month they had over half of their factory workers not show up.
Turns out Ohio has a binary type rule. If you make $1 more than X in a month the $500 disappears. So the assistance the state is providing for the poor is effectively helping keep people in poverty.

It should slowly go away and encourage people to make more money. Maybe every $3 over the limit you lose $1

 

[DCSS]

People who post on GTSwarm all day don’t want to work.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

OK, its like you have ideas in your head and interpret what people are saying to conform good/bad to what you believe to be true. Those are all interesting individual instances but are statistically insignificant. Everyone in NYC cannot thrive on $15 an hour, I bet 99% of the world would agree with that statement. Posting an outlier is meaningless and talks past what I was tryng to say.

Sorry I try to never get into debates on the web as they all end up like this so they are pointless. I should not have copied your original post. I should have just posted the relevant information to this thread as there are a lot of people who don't want to work.

I was talking to someone who runs a factory in Ohio. They are having all kinds of problems getting people to show up. So they started throwing money at it. Ohio has assistance (He said $500 a month)
If you work all 5 full shifts in a week they were giving out $100 bonus per week. Well what happened is at the end of the month they had over half of their factory workers not show up.
Turns out Ohio has a binary type rule. If you make $1 more than X in a month the $500 disappears. So the assistance the state is providing for the poor is effectively helping keep people in poverty.

It should slowly go away and encourage people to make more money. Maybe every $3 over the limit you lose $1

My only problem with these discussions is that no one on this thread is poor, no one has housing issues, no one has transportation problems, or serious child care issues, and no one is without benefits or has to work for minimum wage. In this country, inevitably, we tend to give greater moral authority to those who have more money and more advantages. We have totally bought the myth of meritocracy. So, if there is a glitch in the economy, of any kind, we eventually blame the lowest people on the totem poll. Predictable every time. Yet, as a nation, we exceed the world in productivity. There is zero evidence that I have seen that Americans don’t want to work or that having a social safety net kills enterprise. But myths never die, especially those that make us feel superior to some other group of people.

I’m fortunate to have been born when I was. Dad was an orphan and mom grew up on a farm. Through hard work, industry and a lot of government programs, my parents were able to raise five sons who all became professionals. Sadly, many of those government programs no longer exist or haven’t kept up with inflation. My loans for college and grad school were a pittance and had very generous payment periods. My own children could never have gone to college without my financial help, in spite of scholarships and honors. But people starting out today where my parents did would have a much harder time repeating their success.

 

[Technut1990]

Im not sure folks are necessarily saying people don’t want to work. I think the evidence is antidotal in that the younger generation will work, it just has to be under their terms And I would argue it’s that mindset that pits them against reality. When you need money you can’t qualify your opportunities. Sometimes you have to work on the weekends for $10 an hour as your friends are out having fun. Most times entry level jobs aren’t the highest or best but they aren’t likely where you will spend the rest of your life either.

I started my first job at 14 in a warehouse for $5 an hour, after school and weekends, it wasn’t “legal” employment because of my age and it was barely over the $4 minimum wage but it was a job if I wanted money. Have you tried to get a teen to weed eat or cut grass lately ? They won’t do 2hrs of work for less than $50 and all the cold drinks they want, much less report for 30 hours of work in air conditioning for $ 7.25.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Im not sure folks are necessarily saying people don’t want to work. I think the evidence is antidotal in that the younger generation will work, it just has to be under their terms And I would argue it’s that mindset that pits them against reality. When you need money you can’t qualify your opportunities. Sometimes you have to work on the weekends for $10 an hour as your friends are out having fun. Most times entry level jobs aren’t the highest or best but they aren’t likely where you will spend the rest of your life either.

I started my first job at 14 in a warehouse for $5 an hour, after school and weekends, it wasn’t “legal” employment because of my age and it was barely over the $4 minimum wage but it was a job if I wanted money. Have you tried to get a teen to weed eat or cut grass lately ? They won’t do 2hrs of work for less than $50 and all the cold drinks they want, much less report for 30 hours of work in air conditioning for $ 7.25.

Kids today, amarite?


Yep, there are some spoiled people in the world but the flip side is there are also people who take those entry level jobs and get stuck there through no fault of their own. They need the money, they have to work, they even go above and beyond but one day they end up being in a place where no one will give them a promotion because management is suspicious about giving an older person a boost who is still working at entry level. More and more people are getting stuck like that and actually losing money because their wages haven’t kept up with inflation.

My youngest daughter is ruthless about this. She knows exactly where she needs to be in terms of career development at each level at her age. If a company is holding her back after a year or two of work she spends her time looking for another job. I originally thought she was being too driven as well as being too demanding of her work place. She said I was pretty much out of touch with business today. Her track record tells me she was right.

 

[RonJohn]

Yep, there are some spoiled people in the world but the flip side is there are also people who take those entry level jobs and get stuck there through no fault of their own. They need the money, they have to work, they even go above and beyond but one day they end up being in a place where no one will give them a promotion because management is suspicious about giving an older person a boost who is still working at entry level. More and more people are getting stuck like that and actually losing money because their wages haven’t kept up with inflation.

There are some people like this. However, I believe that if you look at the history of the majority of people in that situation, you can find things they have done and decisions they have made that caused them to be in that situation. Just from personal anecdotal evidence it is not just one decision, but a series of decisions:

I have a cousin who got a close to minimum wage job after graduating high school. He grew up very poor, so as soon as he had a job be purchased a car on a loan. He worked there for a few months and then "found" another job that would have a better top pay, so he moved to it. A few months later, he "found" a delivery job that was lower pay, but he was going to kill it on tips. A few months later he realized that the pay even with tips didn't match what he was making previously, so he changed jobs again. For about ten years he was stuck in that cycle. He would go through starting positions that paid close to minimum wage at four to five companies every year. He didn't plan for the future, just always thought the grass was greener at a different location and swapped and swapped. At that time, he always blamed other people for him always being at a starting wage even though he kept changing jobs. He was evicted from several rental houses, and always blamed the landlord even though he wasn't paying rent. He had a vehicle repossessed and blamed the bank even though he wasn't paying the truck payment. Back then he said that it was only "luck" that I was able to get a degree from GT, and that if he was "lucky" like me he would have been given a nice job. He eventually went to truck driving school and now makes a decent living driving a truck. The biggest thing that changed with him was his mentality. He decided to make himself more valuable. He decided to start being responsible with rent/(now mortgage)/bills. I know that several people had talked to him about the differences between waiting for "luck" and being responsible and doing things himself. It took him making that decision for himself to make a difference.

One side story about that cousin. His mother was very poor. She made very bad decisions with jobs and money for her entire life.(she is retired now) (it also explains where he learned from) My cousin and his younger brother always wore second hand clothes to school. First day of school, most of the kids had nice and starchy brand new clothes, but they did not. One year, probably sophomore of high school, his mother had a little bit of money and they got brand new off brand clothes. He was very happy, and it was apparent to me that he was proud to be wearing new clothes on the first day of school. Some of the other kids made comments to me about him wearing off brand stuff. I berated them and told them to leave him alone. A few of them told him that he had a large rip in the back of his jeans. I saw him slinking backed into a corner of the room and he told me what the other kids had told him. I looked and let him know that his jeans were perfectly whole. Pissed me off greatly. Something so simple was one of the proudest moments of his life to that point and other people had to ruin it. I used to think that was only kids that act that way, but I don't think that any more.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

There are some people like this. However, I believe that if you look at the history of the majority of people in that situation, you can find things they have done and decisions they have made that caused them to be in that situation. Just from personal anecdotal evidence it is not just one decision, but a series of decisions:

I have a cousin who got a close to minimum wage job after graduating high school. He grew up very poor, so as soon as he had a job be purchased a car on a loan. He worked there for a few months and then "found" another job that would have a better top pay, so he moved to it. A few months later, he "found" a delivery job that was lower pay, but he was going to kill it on tips. A few months later he realized that the pay even with tips didn't match what he was making previously, so he changed jobs again. For about ten years he was stuck in that cycle. He would go through starting positions that paid close to minimum wage at four to five companies every year. He didn't plan for the future, just always thought the grass was greener at a different location and swapped and swapped. At that time, he always blamed other people for him always being at a starting wage even though he kept changing jobs. He was evicted from several rental houses, and always blamed the landlord even though he wasn't paying rent. He had a vehicle repossessed and blamed the bank even though he wasn't paying the truck payment. Back then he said that it was only "luck" that I was able to get a degree from GT, and that if he was "lucky" like me he would have been given a nice job. He eventually went to truck driving school and now makes a decent living driving a truck. The biggest thing that changed with him was his mentality. He decided to make himself more valuable. He decided to start being responsible with rent/(now mortgage)/bills. I know that several people had talked to him about the differences between waiting for "luck" and being responsible and doing things himself. It took him making that decision for himself to make a difference.

One side story about that cousin. His mother was very poor. She made very bad decisions with jobs and money for her entire life.(she is retired now) (it also explains where he learned from) My cousin and his younger brother always wore second hand clothes to school. First day of school, most of the kids had nice and starchy brand new clothes, but they did not. One year, probably sophomore of high school, his mother had a little bit of money and they got brand new off brand clothes. He was very happy, and it was apparent to me that he was proud to be wearing new clothes on the first day of school. Some of the other kids made comments to me about him wearing off brand stuff. I berated them and told them to leave him alone. A few of them told him that he had a large rip in the back of his jeans. I saw him slinking backed into a corner of the room and he told me what the other kids had told him. I looked and let him know that his jeans were perfectly whole. Pissed me off greatly. Something so simple was one of the proudest moments of his life to that point and other people had to ruin it. I used to think that was only kids that act that way, but I don't think that any more.

When the ACE study came out in 1995 it was an eye opener for me. This coupled with my wife’s work in child abuse prevention and my own volunteer work with community collaborations dealing with poverty, all have shaped my view that poverty is rarely caused by poor decisions. It actually is more accurate to say that poverty and early childhood trauma cause bad decisions. These cycles are hard to break without external support systems because they all started from external causes.

One example in this country was Social Security and Medicare. Poverty dropped by over 30% due to these programs, prior to which many older people were trapped making poor decisions because there were literally no good decisions to be made.

 

[Technut1990]

I guess our opinions are based on what we see and our interpretation is really predetermined. If we feel like we are up against it then I truly believe we will be up against it, even if facts say otherwis.

My step son always wanted to work for NASA, kid is truly smart. We signed him up for some extra curricular activities at Emory ( they have a program for high school kids that attend for a week in the summer ). Although he got several awards he called and told us on a Thursday that he wanted to come home. Mom wanted to go get him and I wanted him to finish what he started. Mom won out. When we picked him up he told us the class was to easy and he didn’t need to be there with stupid people. I’ve told the story before but eventually I was able to arrange a visit to the campus at Tech. We got an escorted tour from one of the football coaches to practice and damn near every building on campus. We were treated like royalty and it really impressed my step son. I thought it would be a motivator. The story ends, shorta, with him deciding on his own to drop out of high school with one quarter left to go until graduation. I literally begged him not to drop. I told him he had to have a high school diploma. He dropped anyway. Now my stepson is 19, he is unemployed and has had 4 jobs in the food service industry since he dropped. He refuses to accept that he can’t go to Tech or work for NASA without a high school diploma. His basic reason is that he is to smart to attend classes in high school with stupid people and if Tech and NASA really wanted him they would understand he is smarter than all the other kids.

all of this is the result of a self inflated unrealistic opinion of himself. I can honestly say that he has been told 100 times that his opinion is unrealistic, yet he insist Tech and NASA can change the way they do things and he actually gets mad about it.

he is in this boat because of decisions he made, which included ignoring every bit of advice his entire family has given him.

 

[Technut1990]

When the ACE study came out in 1995 it was an eye opener for me. This coupled with my wife’s work in child abuse prevention and my own volunteer work with community collaborations dealing with poverty, all have shaped my view that poverty is rarely caused by poor decisions. It actually is more accurate to say that poverty and early childhood trauma cause bad decisions. These cycles are hard to break without external support systems because they all started from external causes.

One example in this country was Social Security and Medicare. Poverty dropped by over 30% due to these programs, prior to which many older people were trapped making poor decisions because there were literally no good decisions to be made.

im not against the programs and you are right poverty isn’t necessarily caused by poor decisions for every individual BUT there was likely poor decisions made by those who had influence and responsibilities. An abusive dad or alcoholic mom effects children and the emotional damage they incur is not their fault. however somewhere in their lives someone was making poor decisions, decisions that taught the child to follow patterns they see or saw. Those patterns are usually repeatedly doing what mom or dad did, which wasn’t helpful in the first place. Education for those kids can break the cycle but when it’s given and ignored it falls flat.

The gang culture is an example. We hear all the time that kids are trying to escape these areas and escaping is good when you can but when you are emulating dad or cousins who are gang banging you aren’t poor because you are necessarily stupid, you are poor because of the lifestyle your family raised you to live, the impact of poor parental decisions, not necessarily the abuse or education.

the dynamic isn’t necessarily that they are poor ( I grew up poor but not abused) it’s that it’s hard to break bad practices.
When your family is desolate and dad spends his money on cigarettes and gambles it’s a lesson the kids don’t escape.

 

[RonJohn]

When the ACE study came out in 1995 it was an eye opener for me. This coupled with my wife’s work in child abuse prevention and my own volunteer work with community collaborations dealing with poverty, all have shaped my view that poverty is rarely caused by poor decisions. It actually is more accurate to say that poverty and early childhood trauma cause bad decisions. These cycles are hard to break without external support systems because they all started from external causes.

I do agree with you that it is a cycle.

With extended family members I have seen what I would call characteristics of a poverty mindset, such as: When they receive a paycheck they have to spend it immediately, because they know that the money won't be there in a few days.(not realizing that it isn't there precisely because they immediately spend it). If by some miracle, they have $100 left over just before receiving the next paycheck, they have to buy something that they want instead of saving it for a later emergency. If other people have possessions, they must have money. If other people have money, it isn't because of anything they actually did, it is only because of luck.

The problem is that, in my opinion, not assigning responsibility to a person for thinking and believing those things in and of itself continues the cycle. It is easy to feel sorry for someone who learned to be poor, but then where is the responsibility. That person then teaches their children the same things and damages their children's lives.

My response was to your post which said that people are stuck in entry level jobs "through no fault of their own". I am pretty sure that in most cases, you could have a financial and career advisor analyze their life from an objective standpoint and find many instances where they could have helped themselves. If by "no fault of their own" you mean that they were taught to act irresponsibly then maybe. I don't really look at it as a matter of blame and/or good people vs evil people. I look more for solutions than blame. If a person lived their entire life in poverty, what could they have done differently? If a person is living in poverty now, what can they do differently to move up? I don't have answers on how to get people out of those mindsets. I don't think degrading people will work, but I also don't think that totally excusing bad behavior will work either. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people in poverty would take an objective viewpoint as blame and criticism.

 

[LibertyTurns]

There’s 2 basic fundamental facts of life:

a. If you give people outcomes instead of opportunities, the outcome is worse
b. Excuses are like butt holes. Everyone has them and they all stink.

Give them an opportunity & take away the excuse. We’d all be a whole lot better off.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I do agree with you that it is a cycle.

With extended family members I have seen what I would call characteristics of a poverty mindset, such as: When they receive a paycheck they have to spend it immediately, because they know that the money won't be there in a few days.(not realizing that it isn't there precisely because they immediately spend it). If by some miracle, they have $100 left over just before receiving the next paycheck, they have to buy something that they want instead of saving it for a later emergency. If other people have possessions, they must have money. If other people have money, it isn't because of anything they actually did, it is only because of luck.

The problem is that, in my opinion, not assigning responsibility to a person for thinking and believing those things in and of itself continues the cycle. It is easy to feel sorry for someone who learned to be poor, but then where is the responsibility. That person then teaches their children the same things and damages their children's lives.

My response was to your post which said that people are stuck in entry level jobs "through no fault of their own". I am pretty sure that in most cases, you could have a financial and career advisor analyze their life from an objective standpoint and find many instances where they could have helped themselves. If by "no fault of their own" you mean that they were taught to act irresponsibly then maybe. I don't really look at it as a matter of blame and/or good people vs evil people. I look more for solutions than blame. If a person lived their entire life in poverty, what could they have done differently? If a person is living in poverty now, what can they do differently to move up? I don't have answers on how to get people out of those mindsets. I don't think degrading people will work, but I also don't think that totally excusing bad behavior will work either. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people in poverty would take an objective viewpoint as blame and criticism.

There are lots of nuances to this conversation in my opinion. The ACE study showed how people get hardwired at an early age, again, through no fault of their own. Without going into the meat of this research let me make an oblique reference as a kind of analogy. Child abuse is horrible and the people who commit it are blame worthy. On the other hand, most of these same people had their life set on this course when they themselves were repeatedly abused as children. There is no cure that we know of for what happened to them.

The problem of poverty is similar. I spent about 30 years working in various South Georgia towns. To put it bluntly, any young person with any sense would get out of those towns as quickly as possible. But most don’t. Even though there are no job prospects that would ever raise them out of the working poor category they do not have the educational background or the intellectual tools to see that there is a better life elsewhere. They literally just can’t see it. No one ever exposed them to any thing different. To them no place on earth is better even though they’ve never been more than 30 miles away from home to find out.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

im not against the programs and you are right poverty isn’t necessarily caused by poor decisions for every individual BUT there was likely poor decisions made by those who had influence and responsibilities. An abusive dad or alcoholic mom effects children and the emotional damage they incur is not their fault. however somewhere in their lives someone was making poor decisions, decisions that taught the child to follow patterns they see or saw. Those patterns are usually repeatedly doing what mom or dad did, which wasn’t helpful in the first place. Education for those kids can break the cycle but when it’s given and ignored it falls flat.

The gang culture is an example. We hear all the time that kids are trying to escape these areas and escaping is good when you can but when you are emulating dad or cousins who are gang banging you aren’t poor because you are necessarily stupid, you are poor because of the lifestyle your family raised you to live, the impact of poor parental decisions, not necessarily the abuse or education.

the dynamic isn’t necessarily that they are poor ( I grew up poor but not abused) it’s that it’s hard to break bad practices.
When your family is desolate and dad spends his money on cigarettes and gambles it’s a lesson the kids don’t escape.

I don’t disagree. The only slight caveat I would offer is that for some gang bangers they are not only looking for the family they never had, they are looking for a source of income and a way out of poverty. Crime and drugs is “there best option in a market economy.”

Not the way I want society to be and other countries have social programs that address these problems but we lag behind.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I guess our opinions are based on what we see and our interpretation is really predetermined. If we feel like we are up against it then I truly believe we will be up against it, even if facts say otherwis.

My step son always wanted to work for NASA, kid is truly smart. We signed him up for some extra curricular activities at Emory ( they have a program for high school kids that attend for a week in the summer ). Although he got several awards he called and told us on a Thursday that he wanted to come home. Mom wanted to go get him and I wanted him to finish what he started. Mom won out. When we picked him up he told us the class was to easy and he didn’t need to be there with stupid people. I’ve told the story before but eventually I was able to arrange a visit to the campus at Tech. We got an escorted tour from one of the football coaches to practice and damn near every building on campus. We were treated like royalty and it really impressed my step son. I thought it would be a motivator. The story ends, shorta, with him deciding on his own to drop out of high school with one quarter left to go until graduation. I literally begged him not to drop. I told him he had to have a high school diploma. He dropped anyway. Now my stepson is 19, he is unemployed and has had 4 jobs in the food service industry since he dropped. He refuses to accept that he can’t go to Tech or work for NASA without a high school diploma. His basic reason is that he is to smart to attend classes in high school with stupid people and if Tech and NASA really wanted him they would understand he is smarter than all the other kids.

all of this is the result of a self inflated unrealistic opinion of himself. I can honestly say that he has been told 100 times that his opinion is unrealistic, yet he insist Tech and NASA can change the way they do things and he actually gets mad about it.

he is in this boat because of decisions he made, which included ignoring every bit of advice his entire family has given him.

That’s heartbreaking. I wish your family well in this struggle.

 

[LibertyTurns]

I don’t know what other people’s experiences are but my brothers & I grew up working class poor with a father that refused to accept excuses. Before I was born, he & mom & brothers moved into a neighborhood that didn‘t appreciate their arrival. We went to schools that not everybody was glad we were there. Sports and academics were almost the equalizers, almost. On occasion it didn’t work that way. Dad’s attitude was make them regret they didn’t want you. I truly believe there’s a very long line of folks that have regret, maybe not but it’s not like it bothers me. He made us study, made us work & chores, encouraged us to play music and sports, join student councils, etc. We knew the boundaries and the price that would be paid for crossing the line. Yeah, got my *** whipped for drinking beer under age, not giving a neighbor girl her panties back (she got naked & I just wanted the souvenir), etc but never once did I hear him complain about being wronged so I accepted my punishments for my crimes. He just overcame & expected us to do the same. We earned everything we got & the first time I really got pissed was when I had to confront “you’d been given something you didn’t deserve/ earn” comment. It has bothered me every time it has ever happened. Things have not always gone my way. It would be easy to ascribe ulterior motives to the oversights, but my peers have had similar fortunes without my pedigree. Sometimes luck favored me & by the grace of God I was rewarded. Life has a way of balancing itself out, not always, but the odds are favorable over the long run if you maintain an even keel. Life’s full of exceptions, both ways of course as we’re not humans not perfect robots.

There’s a safety net standard, a level below in which it is inhumane for another human being to allow his fellow man to be treated. Then there’s robbing people of their dignity by giving them undeserved rewards or assistance. We need to come to grips the difference between the two as a nation because the damage excessive entitlements have inflicted upon our people (albeit well-intentioned) has wreaked long term damage to the current and future health, wealth, security & prosperity of our great republic.

We owe ourselves a safe place to live and enjoy the freedoms bestowed upon us by virtue of the fact we were lucky enough to born in this great nation. We should strive to be fair to our fellow man, lend a hand in times of need. Corporations and businesses should be good citizens, wield their power responsibly as that is the key to success. Our youth are a precious resource which we should endow with opportunities to learn & grow, replace us with better versions of ourself. We should not spoil them by saving them from hardship or failures in life, but encourage them to persevere during life’s hardest challenges. The same goes for irresponsible adults. I believe we needed to drive ourselves to a bad place in order to find our way again. Maybe we’ve finally reached the destination & after a short stay we’ll figure our way out of this. It was pretty dire 40 years ago and 5 years later started a long sustained run of prosperity the likes of which the world had never seen before.

History will repeat itself, for better and also like now for worse.

Thanks for reading, hope it resonates and inspires you in some positive way in your daily life. God Bless America!