If 20 year old me looked at 40 year old me, I would assume a lot of things.

I would assume that I had been given things in life. Maybe rich daddy gave me some money, or a car, or a college education. I might assume that I had been blessed with a middle or upper middle class upbringing, which facilitated a certain level of success as an adult. I would most likely assume that something that I didn't have as a 20 year old was responsible for the 40 year old me's "success".

Truth is, I had nothing to help me. We grew up in absolute poverty and even lived in homeless shelters; section 8 housing until I was 16 and moved out of state. After that we were still dirt poor but a little better off than before. I actually owned a car at 16, not because someone bought me one but because I got a job ON my 16th birthday and saved for several months at 4.25/hr to buy a crappy 300$ car. I even had to give Mom some of the money I made, because welfare docked her for my income in the household. It wasn't enough though, and I had to go somewhere else.

I rose up from complete destitution on my own. I almost always had a job and if I didnt I had sold some cars on payments, and had income. Usually I'd work somewhere and work my way up into some form of management. That came from showing up early and doing my best. If I was making cheeseburgers and chicken baskets, bet your ass theyd be fresh and hot as fuck. If I was stocking shelves those mutherfuckers were the neatest shelves you'd find in the store. If I wass delivering pizza I knew exactly how long it took to make, cook and deliver the pizza to your house. Hell, I took the order, made the pizza and delivered it when I was on days. That pizza shop was 100% [name redacted] powered. And it thrived.

No one gave me anything. No one cut me a break because I was a football player or because of my skin color or because my dad was rich or a well known community figure. I was actually harassed for a while because I was a long haired, leather jacket, bandana wearing, Jnco jean and Vans kind of guy. The faculty at the school I went to hated me because I was poor and didnt fit in with the rest of the school's upper middle class suburbia theme.

Thus, when I saw a 40 year old dude driving a classic hot rod down the road, I made assumptions. When I saw someone driving a nice pickup truck, I made assumptions. When I went past a nice house with a manicured yard, I made assumptions. When I saw someone with nice clothes on, I made assumptions.

What it boiled down to was that their possessions and wealth was someone else's fault, and my lack of possessions and wealth was also someone else's fault.

Sound familiar?

Well, all of those assumptions would have been wrong if 20 year old me saw 40 year old me. I worked to get where Im at. It was a long road and I started with nothing. I still dont have much compared to some, but to others...well other would probably make assumptions.

Im happy with where Im at. They key is to not compare your success to others success. Even if every assumption I made was correct, the fact that Johnny Hotrod had a nice car didn't affect whether or not I also had a nice car. It doesn't matter how he got it; whether he built it, bought it, inherited it from his grandfather, or had it bought for him by his Dad. None of that affects my ability to go get the same thing. Him having that car or level of wealth doesn't mean that I cant. Wealth is not a finite resource. There will always be someone with more than you; even in a pure socialist society. You cant compare things like that and measure your happiness against someone else's wealth. You'll simply never be happy.

I say this as 40 year old me. 20 year old me wanted 'wealth equality' even though I had no skills and no effort made to achieve success and build wealth. I see the exact same sentiment among young people today. Its envy, laziness, and nothing more. They want to skip the 'effort part' and have the same things that others spent a lifetime building, achieving and acquiring.

This isnt a deal where I think 'I had it hard, so everyone else should too'. As a manager of 30-40 people, I make things as easy as possible. Much easier than I had doing the exact same job. I do more work so they can do less. I think everyone should learn to appreciate things that are earned: wealth and status alike. In a society where everything is given to you and expected, nothing is appreciated. Nothing is valued - not even yourself.

Written while rocking this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFUZKaOXCnw